Ham 

SCHOQt 


A 

BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS, 

RECORDED  BY  AN   UNKNOWN    WRITER, 


FOR  THE  USE  OF 


AUTHORS  AND   PUBLISHERS: 


TO  THE  FIRST  FOR  DOCTRINE,   TO   THE  SECOND  FOR  REPROOF, 

TO  BOTH  FOR  CORRECTION  AND  FOR  INSTRUCTION 

IN  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 


EDITED  AND  PUBLISHED  BY 

GAIL   HAMILTON. 


"  Why  talk  so  dreffle  big,  John, 

Of  honor,  when  it  meant 
You  didn't  care  a  fig,  John, 
But  jest  for  ten  per  cent  ?  " 

BIGLOW  PAPERS. 


CAMBRIDGE: 

at  tfte  &itocr£i& 

AND  FOR  SALE  BY 

KURD  AND  HOUGHTON,  NEW  YORK. 
1870. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1870,  by 

II.   0.   IIOUQHTON   AND   COMPANY, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


RIVERSIDE,  CAMBRIDOB: 

8TKRKOTYPED  AND  PRINTRD   BY 

U.  0.  HOUOHTON  AND  COMPANY. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGB 

I.  EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION          .        .        .        .   ,    .        .  1 

II.  AUTHOR'S  INTRODUCTION     ......  7 

III.  RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OB'  SUSPICION  IN  THE  SOUL        .  11 

IV.  DECLARATION  OF  WAR        .        .        .        .   '    .        .  33 
V.  SKIRMISHING      .        .        . 51 

VI.  A  TRUCE  .  .  .  ....  .  .  '  .  62 

VII.  RENEWAL  OF  HOSTILITIES 75 

VIII.  ARRANGEMENT  OF  PRELIMINARIES  ....  125 

IX.  BATTLE  OF  GOG  AND  MAGOG  .....  155 

X.  SOBER  SECOND  AND  THIRD  THOUGHTS  .  .  .  249 


394422 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 


EDITOR  S     INTRODUCTION. 


HE  papers  comprising  the  following  narra 
tive,  called   "A   Battle  of  the   Books," 
|  were  found  in  my  state-room  after  a  vio 


lent  storm,  during  a  long  and  dangerous  sea-voyage 
which  I  was  once  forced  to  undertake.  They  were 
much  stained  with  salt-water,  but  were  for  the  most 
part  legible.  The  name  of  the  author  or  compiler 
is  not  given  ;  but  I  judge,  somewhat  from  the  chi- 
rography,  chiefly  from  incontestable  internal  evi 
dence,  that  the  writer  is  a  woman.  As  this  evidence 
will  unfold  itself  to  the  reader  in  the  course  of  the 
narrative,  I  shall  not  dwell  upon  it ;  nor  is  it,  in 
deed,  a  matter  of  importance,  except  as  it  bears 
upon  the  question  of  the  participation  in  the  gov 
ernment  by  both  sexes.  Viewed  from  that  point, 
it  shows  with  great  force  the  inability  of  women  to 
understand  affairs,  and  the  groundlessness  of  the 


2  A  BAT'TL'E'VP'THE  BOOKS. 

present  clamor  for  a  change  of  status.  It  proves' 
beyond  question  that  all  that  women  need  do  is  to 
trust,  and  all  that  men  care  to  do  is  to  protect. 

The  date  given  is  of  the  last  century,  but  of  its 
accuracy  I    am    not   assured.     The    manuscript  is 
soiled,  and    stained,  and  shabby  enough;    but  the 
storm  which  brought  it  to  my  feet  would  account 
for  that.     There  are  references,  allusions,  and  even 
names  which  point  to  a  time  far  within  the  memory 
of  men  still  living ;  but  this  is  not  conclusive,  since 
I  believe,  according  to  the  best  scriptural  exegesis, 
the  name  of  a  historical  person  in  a  book,  as,  for  in 
stance,  that  of   Cyrus  in   Isaiah,  does  not  deter 
mine  the  date,  so  much  as  the  nature  of  the  writing, 
simply  changing  it  from  history  to  prophecy.     No 
one,  in  reading  this  story,  will  suspect  it  of  scrip 
tural  inspiration  ;  but  may  not  the  writer  have  been 
in  that  state  which  is  sometimes  called  clairvoyant, 
and  which  is  perhaps  but  a  preternaturally  acute 
condition  of  the    intellectual   perceptions,  wherein 
the  logic  of  events  is  so  plainly  seen  that  the  future 
is  as  clear  and  certain  as  the  past,  and  that  which  is 
to  happen  seems  as  much  a  matter  of  fact  as  that 
which  has  happened  ?     If  the  human  mind  can  cal 
culate  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,  with  entire  accuracy, 
three  thousand  years  beforehand,  why  should  it  be 
thought  a  thing  incredible  that   the  human  heart 
should  be  able  to  calculate  some  of  the  incidents  of 
an  eclipse  of  faith  a  hundred  years  in  advance  ? 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE   BOOKS.  3 

But  as  upon  the  question  of  authorship,  so  upon 
that  of  chronology,  I  conceive  the  strongest  evi 
dence  to  be  internal.  The  state  of  society  described 
in  this  narrative  is  surely  no  nearer  than  a  hun 
dred  years.  It  chronicles  an  age  of  barbarism, 
when  author  and  publisher  were  natural  enemies, 
and  relieved  the  monotony  of  their  lives  by  petty 
skirmishing  or  pitched  battles  with  each  other.  This 
age,  happily  for  us,  has  passed  away,  and  exists  only 
in  tradition.  Whether  from  the  universal  softening 
of  manners  which  accompanies  the  introduction  of 
Christianity,  and  in  which  both  publishers  and 
authors  may  be  supposed  to  have  shared,  or  from 
that  equally  universal  brightening  and  quickening 
of  the  intellect  which  attended  the  Renaissance, 
and  which  may  have  enabled  even  publishers  to 
see  how  he  that  watereth  shall  be  watered  also  him 
self,  —  certain  it  is  that  these  times  of  turbulence 
are  gone,  and  we  have  peace.  No  longer  does  the 
wily  publisher  lie  in  wait,  seeking  what  chance  he 
may  have  to  devour  his  author.  Rather  he  woos 
him  to  receive  his  dues,  wins  open  with  gentle 
urgency  the  hand  no  longer  grasping,  but  modest 
and  reluctant,  and  presses  into  it  the  crisp,  abun 
dant  bills.  No  longer  do  authors  shamelessly  drink 
toasts  to  the  despotic  emperor  to  whose  thousand 
crimes  is  linked  the  one  virtue  of  having  hanged  a 
bookseller.  On  the  contrary,  they  raise  their  harps 


4  A   BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS. 

and  join  voices  to  sing  their  benefactor's  praise. 
Who  has  not  seen  in  all  the  newspapers  the  affect 
ing  tale  of  the  great  house  of  Fields,  Osgood,  &  Co., 
—  nomen  clarum  et  venerabile,  —  on  whom  has  fallen 
the  mantle  of  Ticknor  &  Fields  ? 

"Fame  spread  her  wings,  and  with  her  trumpet  blew" 

the  story  of  their  having  offered  payment  to  an 
author,  which  he  declined  to  receive  because  he  had 
once  had  money  for  the  writing.  "But,"  replied 
the  firm,  "  we  intend  to  use  the  article  for  a  book. 
We  make  a  profit  on  both.  Why  should  you 
hesitate  to  take  pay  ?  "  "I  am  sure  I  ought  not  to 
take  it,"  said  the  author;  "  I  should  not  if  I  acted 
according  to  my  ideal.  I  don't  believe  it  is  honest 
to  take  money  twice  for  the  same  piece  of  work." 
"But  do,"  replied  the  publisher;  "  we  insist  upon 
it  as  our  right ;"  and  insist  he  did,  till  the  author 
coyly  yielded.  History  is  silent  from  this  point,  but 
the  imagination  fondly  stoops  to  trace  the  scene. 
Undoubtedly  this  prince  of  publishers,  like  Mr. 
Pecksniff  when  blessing  Martin  Chuzzlewit  for 
hating  him,  "  waved  his  right  hand  with  much 
solemnity.  .  .  .  There  was  emotion  in  his  manner, 
but  his  step  was  firm.  Subject  to  human  weak 
nesses,  he  was  upheld  by  conscience." 

Hear  also  what  the  "  Atlantic  Monthly  "  says : 
"  There  are  no  business  men  more  honorable   or 


A  BATTLE    OF   THE   BOOKS.  5 

more  generous  than  the  publishers  of  the  United 

O  I 

States,  and  especially  honorable  and  considerate 
towards  authors.  The  relation  usually  existing 
between  author  and  publisher  in  the  United  States 
is  that  of  a  warm  and  lasting  friendship,  —  such  as 
....  now  animates  and  dignifies  the  intercourse 
between  the  literary  men  of  New  England  and 

Messrs.  Ticknor  &  Fields The  relation, 

too,  is  one  of  a  singular  mutual  trustfulness.  The 
author  receives  his  semi-annual  account  from  the 
publisher  with  as  absolute  a  faith  in  its  correctness 
as  though  he  had  himself  counted  the  volumes  sold. 
....  We  have  heard  of  instances  in  which  a  pub 
lisher  had  serious  cause  of  complaint  against  an 
author,  but  never  have  we  known  an  author  to  be 

intentionally  wronged  by  a  publisher How 

common,  too,  it  is  in  the  trade  for  a  publisher  to  go 
beyond  the  letter  of  his  bond,  and  after  publishing 
five  books  without  profit,  to  give  the  author  of  the 
successful  sixth  more  than  the  stipulated  price." 

Time  and  scissors  would  fail  me  to  cull  from 
the  journals  all  the  ingenious  and  touching  para 
graphs  which  show  how  the  eminent  publishers 
referred  to  do  good  by  stealth  and  blush  to  find  it 
fame. 

Doubtless  similar  illustrations  might  also  be  drawn 
in  great  numbers  from  other  sources,  were  ordinary 
publishers  in  the  courtly  habit  of  keeping  a  his- 


-   6  A   BATTLE    OF   THE   BOOKS. 

torian  to  record  their  royal  deeds.  But  enough  has 
been  said  to  show  that  the  publishers  of  to-day  have 
become  evangelized,  and  no  longer  seek  every  man 
his  own,  but  every  man  the  things  of  another.  I 
infer,  therefore,  without  hesitation,  that  the  dates  of 
the  following  papers  are  correct,  and  that,  notwith 
standing  a  certain  confusion  in  the  nomenclature, 
the  state  of  things  they  describe,  belongs  exclusively 
to  the  good  old  times  of  a  hundred  years  ago. 

Joined  to  the  main  body  of  the  narrative  were 
injunctions  the  most  imperative  regarding  its  pub 
lication.  But  even  had  I  chosen  to  disregard  these, 
there  are  other  reasons  which  might  have  impelled 
me  to  the  same  course.  As  one  sitting  by  his  own 
fireside  glows  with  a  deeper  content  for  the  sound 
of  the  storm  without,  so  we,  who  live  in  this  golden 
age  of  love,  may  all  the  more  rejoice,  seeing  how 
they  let  their  angry  passions  rise  in  the  brave  days 
of  old. 

I  would  say,  then,  borrowing  the  language  of  an 
old  Sunday-school  hymn :  — 

"  Authors,  attend,  while  I  relate 

A  new  and  simple  story; 
'Twill  teach  your  hearts  with  thankfulness 
To  praise  the  Lord  'of  glory  " 

that  the  lines  have  fallen  to  you  in  pleasant  places, 
and  that  you  receive  your  goodly  heritage  without 
having  to  fight  for  it. 


II. 


AUTHOR  S     INTRODUCTION. 


HEN.  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it 
becomes  necessary  for  an  author  to  dis 
solve  the  bands  which  have  connected 
him  with  his  publishers,  a  decent  respect  for  the 
opinions  of  mankind  requires  that  he  should  declare 
the  causes  which  impel  him  to  the  separation. 

The  war  between  authors  and  publishers  has  been 
a  conflict  of  ages.  On  the  one  side,  the  publisher 
has  been  looked  upon  as  a  species  of  Wantley 
dragon,  whose  daily  food  was  the  brain  and  blood 
of  hapless  writers. 

"  Devoured  he  poor  authors  all, 

That  could  not  with  him  grapple; 
But  at  one  sup  he  ate  them  up, 
As  one  would  eat  an  apple." 

On  the  other  side,  the  author  has  been  considered, 
like  Shelley,  "  an  eternal  child  "  in  all  that  relates 
to  practical  business  matters,  and  a  terrible  child  at 
that,  —  incapable  of  comprehending  details,  and  un 
reasonably  dissatisfied  with  results.  A  definite 


8  A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

illustration  will  sometimes  throw  more  light  on  a 
general  principle  than  reams  of  abstract  discussion. 
But  in  matters  of  this  sort,  definite  illustrations  are 
very  hard  to  come  at.  In  any  case  of  trouble  be 
tween  author  and  publisher,  it  is  for  the  interest  of 
the  latter  that  it  be  kept  as  quiet  as  possible.  Even 
if  he  be  unquestionably  right,  and  the  difficulty  be 
owing  solely  to  the  author's  inexperience  and  im 
practicability,  the  ill  odor  of  having  had  a  quarrel 
will  hardly  be  neutralized  by  any  knowledge  of  its 
causelessness.  The  sympathy  of  the  public  is  more 
likely  to  be  with  the  author  than  with  the  publisher. 
The  author  also  is  held  to  silence  by  various  con 
siderations.  The  difficulty  of  getting  at  the  real 
state  of  the  case,  and  the  misgiving  which  results 
from  it ;  the  always  unpleasant  nature  of  the  contro 
versy  ;  the  obtrusion  of  one's  private  affairs,  as  if  it 
were  a  theme  of  general  interest ;  the  uncertainty 
of  any  good  to  be  obtained ;  the  fatigue  and  disgust 
of  the  quarrel  itself,  —  a  thousand  circumstances 
combine  to  make  it  appear  altogether  easier  and 
better  to  let  the  matter  go  than  to  take  the  trouble 
of  any  adequate  presentation  or  explanation  of  it. 
But  as  he  is  never  quite  satisfied,  he  can  never 
quite  let  it  go ;  and  though  there  come  not  a  real 
thunder-storm  crashing  among  the  hills,  but  clear 
ing  the  skies,  there  are  low  mutterings  and  occa 
sional  flashes,  which  betoken  a  signal  discontent  of 
the  elements. 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  9 

Thus  exists  the  chronic  feud  between  authors  and 
publishers  ;  partly  traditional,  partly  experimental ; 
a  matter  often  for  outward  jest,  but  quite  as  often 
of  deep  and  serious  import.  It  is  a  sort  of  bush 
whacking,  in  which  every  man  whacks  on  his  own 
account,  and  frequently  does  not  know  that  there 
is  any  other  bushwhacker  than  himself.  So  the 
warfare  goes  on,  but  to  no  end.  Nobody  learns 
wisdom  from  another  man's  experience,  because 
the  other  man  keeps  his  experience  to  himself. 

I  propose  to  supply  what  the  theologians  call  a 
"  felt  want,"  and  to  become  the  historian  of  a  con 
test  all  of  which  I  saw,  and  part  of  which  I  was. 
From  the  confusions  of  long  misunderstanding  I 
would  fain  evolve  an  intelligent  and  lasting  peace. 
44  When,"  in  the  language  of  Dr.  Johnson,  "  I  am 
animated  by  this  wish,  I  look  with  pleasure  on  my 
book,  however  defective,  and  deliver  it  to  the 
world  with  the  spirit  of  a  man  that  has  endeavored 
well."  If  it  be  instigated  by  any  other  motive  than 
pure  benevolence,  the  fact  will  doubtless  appear  in 
its  progress.  Should  my  little  cask  of  oil  be  poured 
out  in  vain  upon  the  stormy  waters,  —  should  I, 
instead  of  soothing  their  rage,  be  whelmed  beneath 
it,  —  there  remains  the  consoling  assurance  that  no 
one  else  is  involved  in  my  fate. 

It  would  be  hypocritical  to  apologize  for  the  in 
trusion  of  private  affairs  upon  public  notice,  when 


10  A  BATTLE    OF   THE   BOOKS. 

it  is  notorious  that  there  is  nothing  the  public  so 
dearly  loves,  nothing  upon  which  it  so  eagerly  fas 
tens,  nothing  which  it  so  greedily  devours,  as  private 
affairs.  Indeed,  the  privacy  of  affairs  seems  to  be 
sometimes  the  only  element  of  interest  they  possess, 
and  the  delight  which  the  public  finds  in  them  is 
proportioned  to  the  amount  of  good  manners  it  was 
1  necessary  to  sacrifice  in  order  to  get  at  them.1 

I  give  fair  warning  that  this  narration  is  not  in 
tended  to  be  of  interest  or  value  to  any  but  authors 
and  publishers.  A  log-book  is  not  generally  con 
sidered  very  entertaining  reading,  yet  it  may  be 
scanned  with  great  eagerness  by  those  wrho  are 
following  the  track  it  chronicles.  This  is  simply 
the  log-book  of  a  desperate  voyage,  a  careful  knowl 
edge  of  which  may  prevent  many  a  young  mariner 
from  being  drawn  into  it  himself. 

1  The  most  casual  observer  will  readily  see  that  this  strain  of  remark 
can  refer  only  to  a  far  distant  past.  If  our  age  is  remarkable  for  any 
one  thing,  it  is  for  a  delicate  reticence  regarding  what  is  not  lawfully, 
and  by  divine  right,  its  own.  —  Note  by  Editor. 


III. 

RISE    AND    PROGRESS    OF    SUSPICION   IN    THE    SOUL. 


Y  relations  with  the  house  of  Brummell 
and  Hunt  began  somewhere  about  the 
year  1760.  Until  1768  these  relations 
had  always  been  agreeable.  I  seemed  to  be  living 
in  an  orchard  of  pomegranates,  writh  pleasant  fruits. 
I  thought,  as  Mr.  Tennyson  remarked  to  the  lily, 
"  there  is  but  one  "  publishing  house,  and  that  is 
the  house  of  Messrs.  Brummell  &  Hunt.  All 
others  were  to  me  outside  barbarians,  mercenary 
hirelings,  mere  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of 
water.  Messrs.  Brummell  &  Hunt  published  on 
high  moral  grounds,  from  love  of  literature  and 
general  benevolence.  Gingerbread  followed  their 
virtue,  indeed,  but  had  no  part  nor  lot  in  it.  My 
dealings  were  with  Mr.  Hunt,  and  the  business 
aspect  of  our  connection  came  to  be  nearly  lost 
sight  of  behind  the  veil  of  friendship.  Money  ar 
rangements  I  left  entirely  to  him.  I  never  stip 
ulated  for  anything,  either  on  books  or  magazine 
articles.  I  considered  that  he  best  knew  the  money 


12  A   BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS. 

value  of  these  things,  and  that,  as  we  are  constantly 
told,  the  interest  of  author  and  that  of  publisher  are 
one.  He  accordingly  paid  me  whatever  he  chose, 
and  I  was  entirely  satisfied. 

One  day  in  December,  1767,  happening  to  want 
more  money  than  was  due  me,1  I  recollected  having 
seen,  a  few  weeks  before,  an  article  in  the  "  Segre- 
gationalissuemost," 2  on  the  "Pay  of  Authors," 
which  said :  — 

"  In  regard  to  books,  the  common  percentage 
paid  by  publishers  to  average  writers  is  ten  per  cent, 
upon  the  retail  price  of  the  book;  the  copies  given  to 
the  press  for  notice  not  being  included  in  the  esti 
mate.  Thus,  for  an  edition  of  a  volume  whose 
retail  price  is  $1.00,  the  account  would  be  made  up 
thus:  Suppose  1,000  copies  to  be  printed,  of  which 
90  are  distributed  to  the  press,  and  otherwise  given 
away  for  notice,  and  the  balance  sold,  the  publishers 
would  owe  the  author  (1,000  —  90  =  910  copies,  at 
lOc.  each)  -$91.00.  And  so  proportionately  for 
larger  works  at  costlier  prices." 

Without  the  least  presentiment  of  anything  un 
canny,  I  made  the  following  reference  to  it  in  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Hunt.  This  extract  unfolds  the  begin 
ning  of  sorrows. 

1 A  circumstance  which  at  once  relegates  this  story  to  the  last  century. 
—  Note  by  Editor. 

2  Proof  that  this  paper  belongs  to  an  age  when  people  had  time  to 
pronounce  long  words.  —  Ed. 


A   BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS.  13 

"  Now  see,  in  the  '  Segregationalissuemost,'  this 
very  morning,  I  saw  an  article  ahout  the  pay  of 
authors,  in  which  it  said  that  the  ordinary  price  for 
average  authors  was  ten  per  cent,  on  the  retail  price 
of  the  book  ;  but  according  to  my  account  I  don't 
have  ten  per  cent.  I  only  have  somewhere  about 
seven  or  eight  per  cent.  Looking  in  my  papers,  I 
find  that  all  the  contracts  I  have  are  only  for  fifteen 
cents  on  the  two-dollar  volumes,  which  certainly  is 
not  ten  per  cent.,  except  the  first  contract  for  4  City 
Lights,'  which  says  ten  per  cent.,  but  the  bills  or 
accounts,  or  whatever  it  is,  are  made  out  for  that,  — 
not  at  ten  percent.,  but,  just  as  the  other,  fifteen 
cents  on  the  volume.  At  least,  this  is  the  way  I 
make  it  out ;  but  I  am  not  good  at  figures,  and  may 
have  made  some  mistake.  However,  here  are  the 
papers,  and  you  can  see  for  yourself,  or  I  will  show 
them  to  Judge  Dane  when  I  go  to  Athens.  I  don't 
like  to  talk  about  it  here  at  home  any  way.  But 
perhaps  you  will  know  all  about  it  from  what  I  have 
said,  and  perhaps  it  is  all  right.  But  certainly  I 
am  an  l  average  writer,'  and  you  are  an  '  ordinary 
publisher,'  not  to  say  extraordinary  !  And  I  wrant 
all  the  money  I  can  possibly  get  and  more  too  ! 
Especially dollars  by  and  by. 

"  It  just  occurs  to  me  that  you  may  possibly  think 
that  I  think  that  you  have  been  falling  into  tempta 
tion!  My  dear  friend  and  fellow-sinner,  if  you 


14  A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

should  stand  up  with  both  hands  on  your  heart,  and 
swear  that  you  had  cheated  me,  I  should  not  believe 
you.  I  should  say,  '  Poor  fellow,  work  and  worry 

have  done  their  work.    His  brilliant  intellect 1 

saw  a  lovely  private  asylum  in  Corinth.  I  would 
go  there  and  spend  the  summer  ! ' 

"  Yours,  sane  or  insane, 

"  M.  N." 

I  waited  nearly  two  weeks,  and  then,  receiving 
no  reply  to  this  letter,  I  wrote  to  my  friend,  Mr. 
Jackson,  a  book-publisher  of  Corinth,  asking  him 
several  questions,  but  avoiding  as  far  as  possible 
any  personality,  or  giving  rise  to  any  suspicion.  I 
hoped  he  would  think  I  was  merely  collecting  infor 
mation.  On  the  16th  of  January,  nearly  three 
weeks  after  my  letter  was  sent,  came  a  reply  from 
Mr.  Hunt,  in  which  the  only  reference  to  my  in 
quiry  was :  — 

"  I  have  not  answered  your  last  letter,  touching 
the  terms  expressed  in  the  contracts  ;  for  you  and  I 
went  over  that  matter  once,  and  it  was  with  your 
entire  concurrence  with  our  views,  based  upon  the 
present  state  of  trade  and  manufacture,  that  the 
amount  was  decided  on.  When  you  come  to  town, 
we  will  go  all  over  it  again,  and  it  will  be  again 
settled  to  your  entire  satisfaction." 

This  reply  did  not  meet  my  question.  I  was 
aware  that  I  had  concurred  in  their  views,  as  my 


A   BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS.  15 

name  on  the  contract  showed  it.  But  I  was  not 
aware  of  ever  having  gone  over  the  matter ;  and 
I  did  not  care  for  a  second  settlement  while  I 
was  as  yet  unassured  of  a  first.  I  wrote  again, 
replying  also  to  an  invitation  by  telegram  re 
ceived  the  same  day  from  a  member  of  Mr.  Hunt's 
family. 

"  MY  DEAR  MR.  HUNT  : 

"  That  is  great  of  you  to  come  down  here  with 
a  gay  letter,  and  utterly  blink  out  of  sight  the  fact 
of  your  having  made  me  wretched  for  three  weeks 
by  not  writing.  Of  course  I  concurred  in  your 
views.  If  you  had  said  to  me,  '  Owing  to  the  state 
of  trade  and  manufactures,  all  the  trees  are  now 
going  to  be  bread  and  cheese,  and  all  the  rivers 
ink,'  I  should  have  said,  '  Yes,  that  is  a  very  wise 
measure.'  I  don't  remember  ever  talking  the  thing 
over  with  you,  but  I  dare  say  I  did,  —  or,  rather, 
you  talked,  and  I  nodded,  as  usual !  And  of  course 
I  agreed ;  for  here  are  the  contracts  that  say  so, 
and  if  I  don't  know  what  is  in  those  contracts  and 
accounts,  it  is  not  for  want  of  patient  industry.  If 
I  had  as  many  dollars  as  I  have  pored  over  those 
miserable  papers  the  last  two  weeks,  I  would  build 
a  meeting-house.  Don't  you  see  the  trouble  lies 
back  of  the  contract  ?  Why  did  you  wish  me  to  be 
having  seven  or  eight  per  cent,  when  other  people 


16  A    BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

are  getting  ten  ?  If  it  was  because  I  was  not  worth 
more,  you  need  not  be  afraid  to  say  so.  I  can  bear 
a  great  deal  of  rugged  truth.  But  why  am  I  not 
worth  more,  when  there  is  not  a  paper  of  any  stand 
ing  in  the  country,  to  put  it  rather  strongly,  that 
has  not  applied  to  me  to  become  a  contributor, 
offering  me  my  own  terms  ?  Does  not  that  show 
that  I  have  at  least  a  commercial  value  ?  Writing 

o 

books  seems  a  more  dignified  thing  than  writing 
newspapers,  but  in  point  of  money  there  is  no  com 
parison  to  be  made.1  I  could  have  got  five  times 
as  much  by  putting  '  Cotton-picking '  in  the  form 
of  letters  as  I  have  from  the  book. 

"  When  day  after  day  went  by,  and  you  did  not 
write,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  your  High 
Mightiness  was  standing  on  your  dignity,  and  then 
Zwas  indignant  too.  I  can  always  be  a  great  deal 
more  angry  with  any  one  than  any  one  is  with  me, 
and  I  always  will  be.  And  I  said  last  week,  4  If  he 
does  not  write  me  by  Saturday,  I  will  do  something.' 
And  what  I  did  was  —  write  to  Mr.  Jackson. 
Now  you  will  perhaps  be  vexed  at  this,  but  you 
have  no  right  to  be.  Do  you  think  I  am  going  to 
die,  and  give  no  sign  ?  Mr.  Jackson  is  an  older 
friend  than  you,  —  I  said  an  older  soldier,  not  a 
better!  —  and  then  you  did  not  write.  I  did  not 

1  This  was  in  reference  to  Mr.  Hunt's  repeatedlnj  unctions  that  I  should 
write  only  books. 


A    BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  17 

mention  your  name,  nor  say  anything  about  myself 
or  my  affairs,  only  asked  some  general  questions. 
I  tell  you  this  because  your  letter  was  good-natured. 
If  it  had  been  cross,  I  would  not  tell  you  any 
thing  ;  and  if  you  will  be  as  perplexed  and  uneasy 
for  three  weeks  as  I  was,  and  not  do  anything 
worse  than  that,  I  will  award  you  a  gold  medal. 
Mr.  Hunt,  you  ought  never  under  any  circum 
stances  to  be  angry  with  me.  In  your  large  circle 
of  friends  you  may  have  scores  who  will  bring  you 
more  personal  revenue ;  but  for  the  quality  of  loy 
alty  4  pure  and  simple/  you  will  not  find  many  who 
will  go  beyond  me.  I  may  be  infelicitous  and  in 
explicable  in  demonstration,  but  I  was  never  any 
thing  but  thoroughly  true  in  mood. 

"  The  telegram  came  this  morning  in  due  season. 
A  thousand  thanks  for  her  kind  remembrance,  but 
of  course  I  was  not  going  to  Athens  with  your  let 
ter  staring  me  in  the  face.  Talking  it  over  is  the 
very  thing  I  don't  want  to  do.  There  is  nothing 
to  be  talked  over.  There  are  the  papers.  I  admit 

them  all.     But  when takes  you  to  task  for 

some  misdemeanor,  —  and  if  ever  you  go  to  the  good 
place,  it  will  be  because  that  woman  has  pulled  you 
through,  —  you  don't,  say,  4  What  are  you  talk 
ing  about  ?  When  I  .offered  myself  to  you,  did 
you  not  say  you  would  have  me  for  better,  for 
worse  ;  and  are  you  not  perfectly  satisfied  ?  '  She 
2 


18  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

was  satisfied  then  according  to  her  lights,  but  doubt 
less  she  has  thought  twenty  times  since  she  might 
have  done  better.  Any  way,  you  don't  c  dast '  ask 
her  and  see.  Now  my  case  is  not  parallel.  '  Eng 
land,  with  all  thy  faults,  I  love  thee  still.'  I  cannot 
conceive  of  anybody  being  a  better  publisher  than 
you,  because  you  don't  seem  like  a  business  man, 
but  a  friend.  But  here  is  the  fact  that  I  want  [so 
much]  and  I  have  only  [so  much]  to  get  it  with,  and 
sales  falling  off,  and  I  getting  on  what  is  sold  less 
than  an  unknown  author  gets  on  his  first  book. 
Can  you  tell  in  a  month  whether  the  new  book  is 
going  to  sell  or  not  ?  I  have  another  children's 
book  nearly  ready,  but  I  suppose  decency  demands 
an  appreciable  interval  between  two  issues.  Do 
you  suppose  the  unpopularity  of  my  doctrines  has 
anything  to  do  with  it  ?  If  it  has,  I  will  thunder 
them  out  harder  still.  If  I  must  go  down,  I  will  go 
down,  like  the  Cumberland,  with  a  broadside  volley. 

"  Of  the  books  I  want  I  don't  know  how  many, 
—  a  dozen  or  two.  If  people  won't  buy  them,  I  will 
give  them  away,  for  read  them  they  shall 

"  I  will  now  close  this  short  note  with  the  reflec 
tion  which  I  have  often  made,  —  Be  good,  and  you 
will  be  happy.  And  never  bring  up  against  me  a 
concurrence  of  views  at  any  past  time  as  a  fortifica 
tion  against  cfo'scurrence  in  the  present.  And  if  that 
is,  like  Saint  Paul,  hard  to  be  understood,  —  good 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  19 

enough  for  you  for  not  writing  me  sooner,  and  throw 
ing  me  into  such  a  perturbation.  Remember  always 
the  difference  between  the  assent  of  indifference 
and  the  assent  of  conviction.  Whatever  I  agreed 
to  in  times  past  was  because  I  had  no  interest  what 
ever  in  the  subject,  and  supposed  it  was  all  accord 
ing  to  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians.  Now 
that  ruin  gapes  before  me,  and  I  am,  after  all,  only 
the  law  unto  myself,  it  makes  no  atom  of  difference 
to  me  that  I  have  not  been  fighting  you  the  last  cen 
tury  —  steady. 

*'  While  I  am  in  a  spasm  of  comparative  seren 
ity,  I  will  declare  and  affirm  that  you  are  and  al 
ways  have  been  one  of  the  kindest,  brightest,  and 
most  agreeable  of  men ;  that  you  never  said  to  me 
a  word  of  compliment,  or  silliness,  or  impatience, 
or  anything  that  wounded  me,  —  and  Heaven  knows 
you  have  said  bad  things  enough,  —  and  this  you 
may  cut  out,  and  show  to  men  and  angels  when  we 
come  to  blows.  The  worst  thing  I  ever  knew  you 
to  do  was  not  answering  my  last  letter,  and  then 
aggravating  me  by  coming  down  as  breezy  and 
cheery  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  Give  my  love 

to .     She  deserves  a  better  fate,  but  I  don't 

know  that  I  can  do  aught  to  forward  it." 

Mr.  Hunt's  reply  to  this  letter  was  through  an 
other  person  ;  in  which  reply  the  only  response  to 
my  letter  was  :  — 


20  A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

"  I  sent  off  my  telegram  with  perfect  unconscious 
ness  of  your  state  of  mind,  or  of  the  fact  that  there 
was  any  business  unsettled  which  might  be  talked 
about.  Your  note  last  night  was  a  surprise,  and 
your  non-appearance  a  disappointment 

"  Do  you  forget  that  a  certain  friend  of  ours  can 
not  write  a  word  with  his  own  hand  ?  Do  you 
wonder,  matters  having  been  many  times  explained, 
that  he  thought  they  must  sooner  or  later  explain 
themselves  through  your  memory  ? 

"  We  forget  how  in  a  retired  life  things  work  in 
the  mind,  and  you  must  therefore  forgive  the  appa 
rent  neglect  of  one  who  is  overwhelmed  by  letters 
and  people  from  day's  beginning  to  day's  end." 

This  reply  was  not  soothing.  The  suggestion 
that  one  is  morbidly  suffering  mole-hills  to  rise  into 
mountains  is  not  flattering  to  his  intellectual  calibre. 
Nor  is  it  agreeable  to  be  assigned  the  part  of  one 
who  had  been  so  given  to  dissatisfaction  that  it  was 
not  worth  while  to  try  to  quiet  him  again.  One 
thing  I  did  learn  from  it,  —  that  Mr.  Hunt  did  not 
design  to  answer  my  question. 

I  none  the  less  desired  an  answer.  I  thought  if 
I  could  not  secure  it,  perhaps  some  one  else  could. 
Mr.  Dane  was  an  old  friend  of  Mr.  Hunt's,  and  a 
friend  of  mine.  His  office  was  but  a  short  distance 
from  Mr.  Hunt's.  He  had  chanced  to  write  me 
some  excellent  advice  about  saving  money  just  be- 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  21 

fore,  —  without,  however,  any  knowledge  of  this 
affair.  I  wanted  somebody's  opinion,  and  I  could 
not  talk  about  the  matter.  I  therefore  wrote  to 
Mr.  Dane  a  letter  of  self-justification,  not  to  say 
glorification,  —  saying :  — 

"  You  think,  perhaps,  because  I  have  once  or 
twice  lost  a  few  things,  therefore  I  take  no  heed  of 
anything.  On  the  contrary,  there  is  probably  no 
one  in  the  land  who,  on  the  whole,  is  more  careful, 
systematic,  and  provident  than  I !  Truth  !  .  .  .  . 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  independence,  or  dignity, 
scarcely  honesty,  without  money.  Perhaps  that  is 
putting  it  a  little  too  strong,  but  at  any  rate  impecu- 
niosity  is  a  constant  temptation. 

"  I  should  have  ....  more  if  I  had  had  ten 
per  cent,  on  the  books,  as  the  '  Segregationalissue- 
most '  said  the  other  day  was  the  custom  for  new 
authors.  I  don't.  I  have  only  fifteen  cents  on  a 
two-dollar  book,  and  ten  cents  on  a  dollar-and-a-half 
book,  which  is  not  nearly  ten  per  cent. ;  and  if  you 
can  tell  me  any  reason  why  I  should  not  have  as 
much  as  an  unfledged  author,  I  wish  you  would  put 

up  your  patents  and  do  it I  want  money 

just  now  extremely.  If  I  had  a  few  thousand  dol 
lars,  I  could  benefit  some  very  excellent  persons 
certainly,  and  in  all  probability  should  lose  nothing 
myself,  but  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  by  the 
time  I  should  want  my  money  at  least,  have  it  all 


22  A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

back.      I    can   take  up  bonds  to  be    sure,  and  I 
rather  think  I  shall ;  but  as  a  general  thing,  one 
never  wants  to  meddle  with  money  that  is  settled. 
Don't  you  think  I  talk  sensibly  ?     Don't  you  take 
back  your  insinuations  about  my  loose  habits  of  ex 
penditure  ?     Unthrift,  reckless  expenditure,  improv 
idence,  indicate  an  organic  defect  of  character.    But 
I  will  not  sacrifice  the  present  to  the  future.     '  The 
present,  the  present,  is  all  thou  hast  for  thy  sure  pos 
sessing.'     Whenever  I  see  an  imminent  need,  I  will 
not  pass  it  by  on  the  score  of  laying  up  for  a  rainy 
day.    For,  don't  you  see,  when  the  rainy  day  comes, 
I  may  not  be  here  to  be  rained  on,  while  to  my 
friend  the  rainy  .day  is  already  come.     I  will  enjoy 
money  as  I  go  along,  —  not  in  so  reckless  a  way 
as  to   involve   the   necessity  of  one  day  imposing 
a  burden  upon  others.     And  of  all  enjoyment,  I 
know  of  none  so  delightful  and  inexhaustible,  and  I 
may  say  so  marvelous,  as  to  see  the  amount  of  re 
lief,  the  quantity  of  sunshine  and   help,  put   into 
another's  life  by  the  judicious  bestowal  of  even  a 
very  little  money.1 

1  The  editor  cannot  allow  this  sentiment  to  go  out  into  the  world  un 
challenged.  To  him  few  things  are  more  marvelous  than  the  amount 
of  provender  which  the  ill-favored  and  lean-fleshed  kine  will  consume 
without  giving  any  sign  of  feeding.  Poverty,  or  incapacity,  which  in 
this  country  is  the  almost  inseparable  companion  of  permanent  pov 
erty —  poverty  is  a  sort  of  Chatmoss  into  which  cart-loads  of  gravel 
may  be  upset  without  giving  any  solid  foundation  to  build  on.  Hor- 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  23 

"  Did  you  ever  see  such  a  letter  as  this  ?  It  is  full 
of  me,  me,  me,  and  me's  money  ;  but  you  began  it. 
Your  letter  came  down  upon  me  just  when  I  have 
been  full  of  perplexity  for  more  than  a  month,  and 
you  see  I  have  not  strength  enough  to  keep  my 
self  to  myself.  You  will  of  course  consider  this 
all  confidential.  You  better  make  sure  of  it  by  de 
stroying  the  letter  as  soon  as  you  have  read  it. 
Yes,  by  all  means.  Seems  as  if  this  letter  was  sort 
of  virtuous.  But  you  know  I  am  not  virtuous  at 
all.  And  don't  misconstrue  me  about  the  books. 
Mr.  Hunt  has  always  been  everything  that  was  gen 
erous  and  friendly,  and  I  do  not  permit  myself  to 
admit  for  a  moment,  even  to  myself,  that  everything 
is  not  just  as  it  should  be.  But  that  paragraph  in 
the  '  S.'  induced  me  to  examine  my  own  papers,  — 
joined  with  my  great  longing  for  money  just  now,  — 
and  I  did  not  and  do  not  understand  it.  Happily, 
it  is  not  necessary  I  should.  Perhaps  that  refers 
chiefly  to  the  great  Corinthian  publishing  houses. 

MR.    DANE   TO    M.    N. 

"  Ten  per  cent,  was  a  fair  amount —  I  mean  ten 
per  cent,  on  the  retail  price  —  for  B.  &  H.  to  pay 
you.  When  they  put  their  dollar  books  up  to  two 

ace  Greeley  was  as  true  as  the  multiplication-table  when  he  said  that 
people  generally  earn  money  as  fast  as  they  have  the  ability  to  expend 
it  judiciously.  —  Ed. 


24  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

dollars,  whether  they  should  pay  you  the  same  per 
centage,  should  depend  on  their  profits,  and  should 
be  a  matter  of  honor  with  them.  Probably  at  first 
they  did  not  double  their  profits  with  their  price, 
but  now  I  have  no  doubt  they  do,  and  more  too. 
Still  you  are  very  much  in  their  hands,  and  it  is 
very  disagreeable  for  you  to  help  yourself.  If  the 
sale  fell  off  with  increase  of  price,  although  the 
profit  per  volume  was  at  the  same  percentage,  they 
would  make  less  money  by  doing  less  business. 

"  Did  you  make  any  contract  with  them  ever,  and 
what  was  it  ? 

"  I  don't  believe  anybody  ever  gets  less  than  ten 
per  cent,  on  the  price  ;  but  it  may  be  on  the  whole 
sale  price,  which  is  forty  per  cent,  off  the  retail  — 
i.  e.  a  book  that  retails  at  $1.40  is  wholesaled  at 
$1.00.  Pardon  me,  but  I  never  imagine  that  a 
woman  comprehends  what  per  cent,  means !  Yes, 
your  principles  are  good,  but  your  practice  is  prob 
ably  very  deficient." 

M.    N.    TO    MR.    DANE. 

"  I  am  going  to  finish  up  about  my  business  now, 
and  then  I  shall  not  ever  mention  the  subject  again. 
But  I  did  want  to  talk  with  somebody  about  it,  hav 
ing  so  little  reliance  on  my  own  judgment.  And 
your  letter  came  just  then,  and  so  I  wrote.  I  have 
never  mentioned  it  to  another  soul.  Confucius  is  a 


A    BATTLE   OF   THE   BOOKS.  25 

great  deal  better  friend  to  me  than  you  ever  were  or 
ever  will  be,  but  somehow  I  could  not  speak  to  him 
about  it.  I  don't  want  to  speak  to  any  one.  Besides 
I  was  afraid  he  would  take  up  against  Mr.  Hunt. 

"  I  have  looked  into  my  papers,  but  I   cannot 
make  much  out  of  them.  ...  I  never  thought  the 

first  thino-  about  it  till  I  saw  in  the  '  S.'  what  I  told 

& 

you  before  —  and  I  hardly  thought  of  it  then ;  but 
several  weeks  after,  when  I  wanted  money,  and  my 
account  for  this  year  was  less  than  I  expected,  I 
hunted  up  the  old  '  S.'  to  see  if  I  had  read  it  right, 
and  then  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Hunt  without  thought  of 
there  being  anything  wrong,  but  asking  him  how  it 
was.  I  supposed  there  was  some  modus  operand^ 
....  and  wanted  to  know  what.  It  was  nearly 
three  weeks  before  he  wrote  again,  and  then  came 
a  pleasant  letter  ;  but  all  he  said  about  mine  was  — 
[then  follows  an  account  of  the  correspondence.] 

"  Now  I  must  confess  I  feel  next  door  to  being 
insulted.     I  hate  to  use  the  word,  but  there  it  is. 

is  as  innocent  and  as  good  as  an  angel,  and 

does  not  in  the  least  know  what  she  is  writing  about. 
But  all  that  Mr.  Hunt  ever  said  to  me  on  the  sub 
ject,  or  I  to  him,  did  not  occupy  five  minutes,  and 
he  never  spoke  but  once.  That  was  years  ago.  It 
must  have  been  before  the  second  contract  was 
made.  He  said  that  owing  to  the  fluctuations  of 
the  market,  the  uncertainties  arising  from  the  war, 


26  A  BATTLE   OF    THE  BOOKS. 

or  something  of  that  sort,  they  were  going  to 
their  authors  a  fixed  sum  —  fifteen  cents  per  vol 
ume  —  instead  of  a  percentage.  It  was  at  a  time 
when  prices  (of  books)  were  changing  from  one 
dollar  and  a  quarter  to  two  dollars,  but  I  don't 
know  exactly  when.  I  assented  of  course  ;  I  nei 
ther  knew  nor  cared  anything  about  it.  I  had  no 
interest  in  it.  And  that  is  all  that  has  ever  passed 
between  us.  Even  now  I  have  not  the  least  fault 
to  find  if  I  am  on  the  same  footing  as  others.  But 
why  does  he  not  say  so  ?  Do  you  think  I  am  en 
tirely  unreasonable  in  being  dissatisfied?  I  wish 
you  would  tell  me  if  you  think  so,  for  it  is  like  death 
almost  to  think  it  possible  that  Mr.  Hunt  should  be 
in  the  wrong.  I  have  had  the  most  implicit  confi 
dence  in  him.  I  like  him  so  much  that  I  hate  to 
hear  a  word  said  against  the  fc  Adriatic,'  or 
anything  that  he  is  concerned  in.  I  would  have 
been  delighted  to  write  for  him  for  nothing  if  he 

had  needed  the  money,  and  asked  me Mr. 

Hunt's  last  letter  to  me  by was  January  18.    I 

did  not  reply  to  it,  and  so  the  matter  stands.  I  shall 
never  say  or  do  anything  more  about  it.  You 
cannot  conceive  how  distasteful  it  is  to  me.  Noth 
ing  in  all  my  life  —  literary  —  ever  touched  me  so 
nearly.  If  I  had  lost  every  speck  of  money  that 
I  had — twice  over  —  it  would  not  have  so  dis 
heartened  me.  Confidence  must  be  entire,  or  it  is 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  27 

nothing.  Do  not  you  ever  speak  to  any  one  of  this. 
....  I  shall  never  mention  it.  A  dead  friendship 
is  as  sacred  as  a  dead  friend. 

[But  if  your  dead  friend  will  not  rest  quietly  in 
his  grave,  but  persists  in  stalking  up  and  down  the 
earth,  scaring  the  timid,  oppressing  the  weak,  and 
boasting  all  the  time  his  own  beneficence,  you  may 
presently  learn  with  Browning,  that  even 

"Serene  deadness 
Tries  a  man's  temper."] 

"  Now  I  hope  I  have  not  overwearied  you  with 
my  tiresome  letter.  You  need  not  be  afraid  of  a 
repetition  of  it.  In  fact,  there  is  nothing  more  to 
say,  —  which  you  will  perhaps  think  the  strongest 
security  of  all.  I  hope  that  you  are  good,  —  at  least 
that  you  are  content  with  nothing  less  than  good,  — 
which  is  the  highest  that  any  of  us  can  go,  I  fancy. 
I  think  you  had  better  burn  this  letter  too.  It  will 
be  safest," 

MR.    DANE    TO    M.    N.,    FEBRUARY   4. 

"  Let  us  try  your  case  by  admitted  principles. 
Inasmuch  as  you  put  yourself  into  Mr.  Hunt's  hands 
to  do  what  was  right,  he  was  bound  to  pay  you  as 
much  as  others  receive  upon  whose  winnings  the 
same  profits  are  made.  This  is  Law,  Gospel,  &  Co. 
If  he  did  more,  it  would  be  generosity ;  if  less, 
meanness  or  worse. 


28  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

"  He  agreed  for  ten  per  cent,  on  the  '  City  Lights,' 
and  pays  you  fifteen  cents  per  copy,  which  is  ex 
actly  right  if  it  retailed  at  one  dollar  fifty  cents  ;  and 
he  pays  you  the  same  on  the  rest,  I  understand 
you. 

"  Whether  he  was  reasonable  in  asking  you  to 
assent  to  the  fifteen  cents  per  copy  depends  on  his 
sales.  If  they  were  very  small,  he  would  make 
less  than  if  large.  I  suppose  you  own  the  copyright, 
but  he  owns  the  stereotype  plates,  which  cost  the 
same  whether  many  or  few  copies  are  printed.  If 
when  paper,  and  so  forth,  increased  in  value,  he  in- 
creased  the  price  pro  ratar  and  the  sales  continued 
the  same,  he  made  a  larger  profit,  and  should  pay 
you  more  ;  that  is,  your  percentage  should  continue 
as  large.  Now,  if  he  sends  you  any  proper  accounts 
of  sales,  they  will  tell  the  story  as  to  the  number  of 
copies  sold,  but  not  whether  they  cost  fifty  or  a 
hundred  per  cent,  more  than  formerly.  Jackson  or 
any  book-publisher  would  know  as  to  that. 

"  It  would  seem  that  you  have  received  the  mini 
mum  price,  according  to  Jackson  and  the  Segrega- 
tionalissuemost,  and  my  own  notions.  Your  books 
are  well  printed  on  tinted  paper,  and  your  notions 
may  have  abridged  the  profits.  I  mean  you  may 
have  required  expensive  editions,  more  so  than  was 
profitable  ;  but  I  think  not.  Will  you  just  show 
me  your  contracts  and  accounts  of  sales I 


A  BATTLE    OF   THE   BOOKS.  29 

am  bound  professionally  to  secresy,  and  my  habits 
are  fixed,  so  that  I  tell  nobody  other  people's  affairs. 

"  It  is  due  to  Mr.  Hunt  that  you  investigate  the 
matter  to  some  conclusion Mr.  Hunt  mis 
took  your  position.  Your  ready  assent  to  his  prop 
osition  and  your  confidence  in  him,  which  rendered 
any  sharp  bargaining  unnecessary  on  your  part,  was 
interpreted  as  inability  to  comprehend  matters  of 
business ;  and  so  they  said  you  understood  it  once, 
and  will  again  when  you  are  where  you  can  be  talked 
to.  You  gave  no  heed  to  what  was  said,  and  it  is  a 
waste  of  ink  to  write  it  all  out ! 

"  But  you  and  I  know  better.  Your  mind  is  logi 
cal,  and  your  simplicity  as  to  business  a  sham." 

M.    N.    TO   MR.    DANE. 

"  Thank  you  for  your  letter 

"  Second,  I  don't  know  whether  the  sales  were 
large  or  small.  Enormous  I  should  say,  considering 
the  quality  of  what  was  sold ;  but  I  don't  know 
what  would  be  considered  large  as  compared  with 
other  books.  I  remember  that  the  4  New  Zealander,' 
a  good  while  ago,  said  that  for  any  book  not  a  novel 
five  thousand  was  a  success  ;  and  I  think  all  mine,  or 
nearly  all,  have  come  up  to  that,  and  some  must  have 
gone  beyond  it. 

"  Third,  I  do  not  know  who  owns  the  copy 
right  or  the  stereotype  plates.  I  never  heard  any 
thing  about  either. 


30  A   BATTLE    OF  THE   BOOKS. 

"  Fourth,  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  push  the  mat 
ter  to  any  agreeable  conclusion ;  but-  suppose  I 
inquire  around  among  the  publishers,  and  find  that 
I  have  been  underpaid,  what  do  I  gain  ?  No  money, 
for  that  is  all  past  and  gone.  Will  it  give  me  back 
Mr.  Hunt  ?  Does  that  strike  you  as  sentimental  ? 
It  does  me.  Nevertheless,  that  is  what  it  means. 

"  Next,  it  is  very  cool  in  you,  if  the  mercury  is 
below  zero,  —  when  you  have  always  been  telling 
that  a  woman  has  no  logic,  and  that  I  have  no  logic, 
and  other  similar  endearments,  —  to  turn  around 
now  and  quietly  speak  of  my  logical  mind  as  if  you 
had  been  preaching  it  up  all  your  life.  I  knew  it, 
but  it  is  a  good  deal  to  have  you  even  indirectly  con 
fess  it.  As  for  business,  if  I  chose  to  turn  my 
attention  to  it,  I  have  no  doubt  I  could  master  all 
its  details,  just  as  I  could  in  cooking.  But  if  you 
have  a  cook  or  a  publisher  for  the  express  purpose 
of  doing  the  business  for  you,  what  is  the  use  of 
perplexing  yourself  about  it  ? 

"  I  am  purposing  to  go  to  Athens  next  Saturday. 
I  will  gather  up  my  papers  and  take  them  to  you, 
if  you  will  burden  yourself  with  them,  but  it  is  a 

thankless  task But  I  really  do  not  want  to 

talk  about  it. 

"  I  had  yesterday  a  hearty  sort  of  letter  from  Mr. 
Hunt.  He  says  that  an  unusual  interest  ever  since 
the  day  of  publication  of c  The  Rights  of  Men  '  was 


A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  31 

evident  on  all  hands  ;  that  elaborate  newspaper 
notices  have  followed  the  book  in  profuse  showers ; 
and  though  business  is  singularly  slow  this  season, 
he  thinks  it  will  have  a  good  sale.  He  also  says, 
4  When  you  come  again,  remember  if  there  are  any 
business  matters  to  be  set  right,  we  are  to  do  it  then,' 
and  '  When  the  juvenile  book  is  ready,  pray  send  it, 
for  it  takes  some  time  to  have  illustrations  made, 
and  we  are  even  now  preparing  for  autumn.' 

"  Now  that  does  not  read  like  a  man  who  is  con 
scious  of  anything  blameworthy.  It  would  be  im 
possible  he  should  go  on  talking  as  pleasantly,  and 
cheerily,  and  carelessly  as  if  nothing  had  happened, 
if  anything  had  happened.  Doesn't  it  look  so  to 
you  ?  And  why  should  it  be  ?  Brummell  and 
Hunt  are  famous  for  their  generosity  and  liberality, 
and  what  motive  could  they  have  in  changing  their 
course  for  me  ?  It  seems  to  me  like  an  ugly  dream. 
I  wish  I  never  had  thought  of  it  at  all.  They  could 
not  have  been  any  worse  off,  and  I  might  have  been 
better." 

MR.    DANE    TO    M.    N. 

"  You  throw  yourself  unreservedly  into  the  arms 
of  your  publishers.  Few  of  us  can  safely  be  trusted 
so  far.  Mr.  Hunt  has  apparently  given  you  the  min 
imum  share,  but  I  do  not  know  even  that,  and  you 
don't  without  inquiry What  I  should  do  is 


32  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

this,  —  satisfy  myself  that  he  is  probably  keeping  too 
large  a  share,  then  say  to  him  frankly,  in  what  form 
you  please,  that  it  seems  so,  and  ask  him  to  explain. 
As  a  business  matter,  it  is  proper.  As  between 
friends,  it  is  due  to  friendship.  What  right  have  you 
to  listen  to  the  suggestions  of  the  adversary,  and 
give  your  friend  no  hearing  ?  That  you  don't  know 
much  of  your  affairs  is  evident,  because  you  don't 
know  who  owns  the  copyright  or  the  stereotype 
plates.  I  do  happen  to  know,  for  I  asked  Hunt 
once  if  you  retained  the  copyrights,  and  he  said  you 
did.  The  accounts  which  he  should  render  you  will 
show  exactly  the  sales.  Of  course  Mr.  H.  will  an 
swer  verbally  your  letter  when  you  meet.  Why 
not  tell  him  frankly  just  as  you  tell  me?  Don't 
hesitate  to  let  me  do  whatever  you  wish  done,  only 
I  don't  want  to  be  officious." 


IV. 


DECLARATION    OF    WAR. 

R.  Dane,  at  my  desire,  and  without  men 
tioning  any  names,  went  to  several  pub 
lishers  in  Athens,  and  was  told  by  all 
whom  he  saw  that  ten  per  cent,  on  the  retail  price 
was  the  author's  customary  share  of  the  profits. 
He  was  referred  to  Mr.  Campton,  of  the  firm  of 
Murray  &  Elder,  as  being  the  person  who  knew 
more  about  these  things  than  any  man  in  Athens. 
Mr.  C.  said  the  same  thing.  I  immediately  wrote 
to  Mr.  Hunt,  February  11 :  — 

"  In  reply  to  the  suggestion  in  your  last  letter, 
that  I  should  send  my  juvenile  book,  I  am  forced 
to  say  what  I  never  thought  to  say,  that  I  cannot 
see  how  it  will  be  for  my  interest  that  you  should 
publish  any  more  of  my  books.  Unhappily,  it  is 
not  necessary  that  I  should  give  any  explanation, 
since  the  reason,  if  it  do  not  exist  to  your  own 
knowledge  and  by  your  own  arrangement,  does 
not  exist  at  all." 
3 


34  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

M.    N.    TO    MR.    DANE. 

"  This,  you  see,  is  a  little  different  from  what  I 
spoke  of,  but  what  is  the  use  of  keeping  up  appear 
ances?  If  he  has  done  what  he  seems  to  have 
done,  there  is  no  possible  way  of  getting  over  it, 
and  I  may  as  well  meet  it  face  to  face  at  once.  If 
he  takes  no  notice  of  this  note,  or  if  he  asks  an 
explanation,  I  shall  refer  him  to  you,  and  you  may 
do  whatever  you  think  best.  If  he  thinks  this  an 
unfriendly  course,  I  think  it  is  for  him  to  show  that 
any  other  was  possible.  Certainly,  I  tried  hard 
enough  to  keep  the  matter  between  ourselves  alone. 
Sometimes  I  feel  indignant,  but  somehow  the  upper 
most  feeling  is  a  sense  of  loss.  There  weighs  upon 
me  a  burden,  as  if  some  great  calamity  had  befallen. 
Unless  he  may  yet  show  something  that  has  hith 
erto  not  appeared,  giving  a  new  light." 

M.    N.    TO    MR.    DANE,    FEBRUARY  15. 

"  Mr.  Hunt  shows  an  indifference  quite  in  har 
mony  with  the  theory  that  his  friendship  for  me  is 
founded  on  his  business  relations.  In  fact,  it  seems 
that  business  relations  and  friendly  relations  are 
alike  unimportant  to  him,  for  he  has  taken  no  notice 
whatever  of  my  letter.  Of  course,  I  shall  not  be 
careful  to  preserve  what  he  values  so  lightly ;  yet 
I  would  rather  err  on  the  side  of  caution  than  of 
recklessness.  It  is  possible  my  letter  may  have 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  35 

been  missent,  or  that  he  is  out  of  town.  Of  course, 
when  our  breach  becomes  public,  it  can  never  be 
healed;  and  I  therefore  do  not  wish  it  to  pass  be 
yond  us  till  there  is  no  possibility  of  doubt.  I 
therefore  will  write  another  note,  and  inclose  it  in 
this  letter.  If  you  see  no  objection,  I  should  like 
to  have  you  mail  it  to  him  in  Athens.  Then  I  will 
wait  one  week  more.  The  week  after,  that  is,  the 
week  commencing  February  23,  I  shall  wish  you  to 
call  upon  Mr.  Hunt  and  get  all  the  money,  etc., 
of  mine  which  he  holds." 

MR.    DANE    TO    M.   N. 

"  I  am  grieved  and  sorry  with  you  at  this  thing. 
I  thought  Mr.  Hunt  would  hasten,  at  the  suggestion 

of  any  real  dissatisfaction,  to   satisfy   you 

Yours,  inclosing  a  note  to  him,  just  came.  I  know 
that  suspense  to  you  is  very  trying,  and  I  want  you 
to  do  all  that  is  possible  to  keep  the  trouble  where 
it  is ;  and  I  would  therefore  have  you  send  him  the 
note  which  you  inclose,  before  you  suggest  me  or 
any  one  else  as  a  disjunctive  conjunction " 

The  note  to  Mr.  Hunt  simply  said  that  I  had 
received  no  answer  to  my  last  note ;  that,  indeed, 
no  answer  was  necessary,  but  I  should  be  glad  to 
know  he  had  received  it ;  and  that,  as  it  was  hardly 
probable  two  successive  letters  should  go  wrong,  if 


36  A  BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS. 

I  did  not  hear  from  him,  I  should  assume  that  he 
had  received  both  notes. 

M.    N.    TO    MR.    DANE,    FEBRUARY  19. 

"  No  letter  has  come There  is  no  use  in 

waiting.  I  do  not  understand  Mr.  Hunt's  course, 
nor  do  I  care  to  understand  it.  . 

"  The  more  I  think  of  it,  the  more  I  am  inclined 
not  to  have  you  do  anything  about  the  past.  Let 
the  dead  bury  their  dead.  It  will  be  only  a  dis 
agreeable  personal  affair,  whose  sole  satisfaction  will 
be  the  money.  It  will  in  effect  be  arguing  and 
claiming  a  greater  value  than  he  has  set  upon  me. 
For  my  part,  I  would  a  great  deal  rather  let  it  all 
go.  You  just  call  and  get  the  money  that  the 
account  says  is  due.  Make  as  much  of  a  settle 
ment  as  can  be  settled ;  and  if  he  chooses  to  let 
everything  remain  as  it  is,  I  choose  it  also.  If  he 
can  afford  to  dispense  with  an  explanation,  so 
can  I." 

I  had  given  to  Mr.  Dane  an  order  upon  Mr. 
Hunt  for  what  money  of  mine  he  had  in  his  pos 
session. 

Mr.  Dane  called  for  the  money  on  the  24th  of 
February,  and  on  the  same  day,  — but  whether 
before  or  after  Mr.  Dane's  call,  I  can  only  infer,  — 
Mr.  Hunt  wrote  to  me  :  — 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  37 

«  DEAR  M.  N. :  — 

"  On  my  return  home  on  Saturday,  I  found  your 
note  without  date,  informing  me  that  you  had 
received  no  reply  to  your  '  note  of  last  Tuesday.' 
I  have  not  replied  to  your  note  of  February  llth, 
because  I  could  not  understand  the  purport  of  it, 
and  hoped  you  might  be  in  town  soon  to  explain  it. 

"  In  the  last  letter  I  received  from  you,  some 
days  before  the  note  referred  to  above,  written  in 
the  old  friendly  spirit  and  faith,  you  tell  me  you 
have  a  juvenile  book  nearly  ready,  and  ask  if  it 
shall  be  sent  for  publication.  I  reply,  please  send 
it  at  once  ;  and  then  comes  your  note  of  the  llth 
inst.,  with  this  passage  in  it :  'I  cannot  see  how  it 
will  be  for  my  interest  that  you  should  publish  any 
more  of  my  books.  Unhappily,  it  is  not  necessary 
that  I  should  give  any  explanation,  since  the  reason, 
if  it  do  not  exist  to  your  own  knowledge,  and  by 
your  own  arrangement,  does  not  exist  at  all.'  Now 
there  must  have  been  something  in  my  note  to  you 
(to  which  this  note  of  February  llth  is  a  reply) 
which  has  offended  you ;  else  why  this  sudden 
change  from  the  sentiments  in  your  long  and 
friendly  letter  to  those  of  the  unhappy  note  of 
February  llth  ?  Now,  pray  let  us  understand 
each  other ;  and  in  all  kindness,  I  ask  you  to  tell 
me  the  ground  of  your  sudden  dissatisfaction. 
"  Very  sincerely  yours, 

"  R.  S.  HUNT." 


38  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

Mr.  Hunt's  ignorance  in  face  of  my  letters,  his 
absolute  inability  to  conjecture  in  what  direction 
the  trouble  lay,  his  misgiving  that  some  unremem- 
bered  sentence  in  his  letter  had  offended  me,  seemed 
to  me  not  a  little  remarkable.  I  wrote  again. 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  HUNT. 

"  MY  DEAR  MR.  HUNT  :  — 

"  It  is  an  unpleasant  story  to  tell,  but  since  you 
desire  it  I  will  repeat  it. 

"  You  recollect  the  letter  I  wrote  you  some  time 
last  December,  and  the  question  I  asked  you  in  it. 
The  '  long  and  friendly  letter,'  of  which  you  speak, 
told  you  of  my  waiting,  and  of  my  writing  to  Mr. 
Jackson.  Mr.  Jackson's  letter  confirmed  the  state 
ment  of  the  Segregationalissuemost.  He  said, 
4  There  is  a  custom  of  the  trade  which  obtains  for 
the  first  venture  of  an  author  unknown  to  fame,  to 
receive  ten  per  cent,  on  the  retail  price  of  the  books 

after  the  first  thousand  copies  are  sold As 

to  the  price  per  volume  of  M.  N.'s  works,  I  should 
think  twenty  to  twenty-five  cents  per  volume  would 
be  the  fair  copyright.  Sometimes  a  moderate  copy 
right  makes  larger  sales  by  enabling  the  publishers 
to  give  larger  discounts  to  the  trade,'  etc.,  etc.  1 
still  supposed  there  was  some  good  reason  for  my 
receiving  a  lower  rate  than  any  he  mentioned,  and 
in  my  long  letter  I  tried  to  make  clear  to  you  the 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  39 

point  which  I  wished  settled.  In  your  reply,  you 
said,  by  E — , '  Do  you  wonder,  matters  having  been 
many  times  explained,  that  he  thought  they  must 
sooner  or  later  explain  themselves  through  your 
memory  ?  We  forget  how,  in  a  retired  life,  things 
work  in  the  mind,'  etc.,  etc.  My  memory  is  not 
wont  to  play  me  false  ;  and  so  far  from  matters  hav 
ing  been  many  times  explained,  they  have  not  been 
explained  at  all.  I  have  never  so  much  as  sought 
any  explanation  till  now.  Never  but  once  has  the 
subject  been  referred  to  between  us.  That  was 
years  ago,  soon  after  the  publication  of 4  City  Lights,' 
and  while  prices  were  as  yet  unfixed.  You  then 
said,  of  your  own  accord,  that  owing  to  fluctuation 
of  prices  and  general  uncertainties,  you  were  mak 
ing  arrangements  with  your  authors  to  pay  them 
fifteen  cents  a  volume  instead  of  a  percentage.  To 
this  I  readily  assented.  All  that  you  said  did 
not  take  five  minutes,  and  all  that  I  said  did  not 
amount  to  five  words.  I  had  a  great  deal  more 
faith  in  your  honorable  intentions  toward  me  than 
I  had  in  my  literary  power  to  serve  you.  I  had 
far  more  anxiety  lest  I  should  make  you  lose  money, 
than  I  had  lest  you  should  make  me  lose  it. 

"  I  decided  that  if  I  were  indeed  brooding  in  a 
retired  life  over  a  trifle,  it  was  time  to  refer  the 
matter  to  some  one  whose  life  was  not  retired,  and 
who  was  better  able  than  I  to  judge.  I  gave  the 


40  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

whole  matter  to  Hon.  Mr.  Dane.  He  made  in 
quiries  among  the  publishers,  without  using  your 
name,  or  in  any  way  bringing  you  in  question; 
and  as  the  result  of  his  investigations,  he  reports 
ten  per  cent,  on  the  retail  price  as  the  very  lowest 
paid  to  the  author.  One  publisher  told  him  that 
they  considered  a  book  that  was  not  worth  to  its 
author  ten  per  cent.,  was  not  worth  publishing. 

"  How,  then,  could  I  avoid  the  conclusion  that 
you  have  been  paying  me  all  these  years  from  one 
fourth  to  one  third  less  than  the  lowest  market 
price  ?  For,  notwithstanding  the  fixed  sum  was 
to  avoid  a  change,  change  has  not  been  avoided. 
When  a  book  was  published  whose  retail  price  was 
one  dollar  and  fifty  cents,  the  author's  part  went 
down  to  ten  cents.  That  is,  the  author's  price  was 
fixed  against  a  rise,  but  flexible  toward  a  fall. 

"  Is  not  this  enough  .  to  explain  my  '  change  of 
sentiment'  and  my  4  sudden  dissatisfaction  ?  * 

"  Mr.  Hunt,  I  cannot  talk  of  this.  I  have  suf 
fered  a  loss  that  money  cannot  measure,  nor  words 
express.  The  writing  of  this  letter  is  the  most 
painful  work  my  pen  has  ever  done.  My  faith  in 
you  was  perfect,  and  my  friendship  boundless,  and 
it  has  all  come  to  this. 

"  I  was  thoroughly  identified  with  you.  I  counted 
your  prosperity  mine.  Not  a  word  of  praise  or 
censure  was  passed  upon  you  that  I  did  not  feel. 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  41 

Had  your  needs  demanded  it,  I  would  gladly  have 
offered  twice,  and  thrice,  and  four  times  any  re 
duction,  and  have  reckoned  it  only  pleasure. 

"  If  I  have  failed  to  make  anything  clear,  you 
can  refer  to  Mr.  Dane.  No  one  but  himself  knows 
anything  about  it ;  but  how  can  it  be  kept  longer  ? 
And  yet  how  can  it  be  told  ?  " 

When  Mr.  Hunt  rendered  my  account,  and  paid 
my  money  to  Mr.  Dane,  I  found  that  they  had 
allowed  ten  per  cent,  on  the  new  book,  "  Rights  of 
Men." 

Mr.  Hunt  did  not  reply  to  my  letter,  but  sought 
an  interview  with  Mr.  Dane,  of  which  the  latter 
gives  the  following  account :  — 

"  ATHENS,  March  2d,  1768. 

"  I  have  had  a  long  talk  with  Mr.  Hunt ;  longer 
than  I  can  write.  He  asked  me  at  first  what  you 
wished  ;  said  he  had  a  long  letter  from  you,  refer 
ring  him  to  me,  etc.  I  told  him  that  it  seemed  to 
you,  as  it  did  to  me,  strange  that,  while  almost  any 
author  was  receiving  ten  per  cent,  on  sales,  you 
were  allowed  much  less,  and  that  was  what  had 
not  been  explained.  He  expressed  all  through  the 
greatest  regard  for  you,  and  surprise  that  you  should 
have  so  little  confidence  in  him.  I  told  him  I  should 
be  very  glad  to  be  able  to  assure  you  that  he  had 


42  A    BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

done  everything  toward  you  that  his  confidential 
relations  required,  and  that  I  felt  sure  it  was  best, 
in  every  business  point  of  view,  that  he  should  con 
tinue  your  publisher. 

"  He  said  your  books  are  published  more  ex 
pensively  than  most  books  ;  that  a  great  deal  has 
been  always  expended  for  advertising ;  that  it  costs, 
for  instance,  $1,000  for  one  page  of  the  '  Adriatic,' 

copies  being  printed;   that  they  employ  one 

man  at  a  yearly  salary  of dollars  to  attend  to 

having  their  books  properly  noticed  in  the  papers  ; 
that  all  the  machinery  for  a  large  sale  is  expensive  ; 
that  they  make  forty  per  cent,  discount  to  the  trade 
—  more  on  large  orders ;  that  Mr.  Somebody  makes 
estimates  of  the  actual  cost  of  books  published,  and 
submits  them  to  him,  and  did  so  with  yours,  and  so 
a  fair  price  was  fixed ;  that  you  have  made  more 
out  of  the  books  than  the  publishers,  and  that  they 
could  not  and  cannot  afford  to  pay  more  than  what 
has  been  allowed;  and  upon  my  suggestion  that 
more  had  been  allowed  on  4  The  Rights  of  Men,'  he 
said  that  was  a  thin  book,  and  took  but  little  paper, 
and  so  cost  less.  He  says  others  will  pay  you  much 
more  for  a  single  work  in  order  to  get  you,  but 
thinks  the  style,  etc.,  would  not  be  satisfactory,  etc. 
In  short,  Mr.  H.  claims  that  in  all  respects,  they 
have  done  their  best  as  publishers  and  friends  for 
your  reputation  and  pecuniary  interests  in  the  long 
run. 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  43 

"  Mr.  H.  said  he  was  sorry  you  did  not  call  as 
he  suggested,  and  talk  about  the  matter ;  that  he 
should  never  cease  to  be  your  friend  — '  I  wish  you 
would  tell  her  so  ; '  that  in  your  letter  you  had 
almost  charged  him  with  dishonesty,  which  certainly 
you  could  not  mean,  etc.  Upon  my  inquiry,  he 
said  they  made  less  on  the  books  at  the  present 
high  prices,  but  he  gave  me  no  special  estimates. 
He  said  he  had  arranged  with  other  authors  at  a 
specified  price  per  copy,  but  did  not  tell  me  what 
price.  As  the  interview  was  at  his  request,  I  had 
no  demands  to  make,  and  could  do  little  but  hear 
him.  I  told  him  I  should  write  you  to-day,  placing 
the  matter  before  you  as  he  presented  it ;  that  I 
could  not,  without  inquiry,  say  to  you  that  I  was  or 
was  not  satisfied  that  all  was  right,  but  should  be 
very  glad  to  see  your  pleasant  relations  continue ; 
and  so  it  ended." 

This  explanation  was  not  satisfactory.  If  my 
books  were  published  more  expensively  than  most 
books,  Mr.  Hunt  should  have  told  me  before.  When 
the  first  one  was  to  be  published,  he  asked  what 
style  I  should  like,  and  suggested  that  of  the  "  City 
Curate."  I  preferred  "  Sir  Thomas  Browne."  He 
made  no  objection,  nor  even  hinted  that  it  was  more 
expensive  than  the  other.  He  wrote  to  me,  "  It 
will  be  a  beauty,  and  look  like  *  Sir  Thomas  Browne,' 


44  A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

in  its  red  waistcoat."  And  again  :  "  I  am  glad  you 
like  the  costume  into  which  we  put  your  first-born." 
The  following  books  were  simply  published  in  uni 
form  style  with  the  first,  and  nothing  was  ever  said 
about  it  between  us.  As  to  the  cost  of  advertising, 
why  should  it  cost  him  more  to  advertise  than  it 
did  other  publishers,  or  more  to  advertise  me  than 
other  writers  ?  What,  again,  had  I  to  do  with  the 
cost  of  the  machinery  for  large  sales,  or  with  the 
rate  of  discount,  unless  they  were  gotten  up  and 
arranged  solely  or  chiefly  on  my  account  ?  In 
that  case  I  must  indeed  have  been  disastrous  to 
my  publishers,  for  I  cannot  think  my  sales  have 
been  exceptionably  large.  The  reason  alleged  for 
the  increased  price  allowed  on  "  Rights  of  Men," 
seemed  trivial.  True,  it  was  but  a  thin  book,  and 
took  but  little  paper,  and  so  cost  less.  But  it  was 
not  so  thin  a  book  as  "  Holidays,"  on  which  they 
allowed  me  but  ten  cents,  while  on  "  Rights  of 
Men,"  accounted  for  after  I  had  begun  to  look  into 
the  matter,  they  allowed  fifteen  cents.  Yet  both 
books  were  sold  at  the  same  retail  price,  —  one  dol 
lar  and  fifty  cents.  "  Rights  of  Men  "  was  one 
hundred  and  forty  four  pages  thinner  than  "  Win 
ter  Work,"  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  pages 
thinner  than  "  Cotton-picking,"  ninety-eight  pages 
thinner  than  "  Old  Miasmas."  Those  books  were 
sold  at  a  retail  price  of  two  dollars,  while  this  was 


A   BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS.  45 

one  dollar  and  a  half.  On  those  books  they  allowed 
me  seven  and  a  half  per  cent.,  while  on  this  they 
allowed  me  ten  per  cent. 

But  "  Old  Miasmas  "  is  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
one  pages  thinner  than  "  City  Lights  ;  "  "  Cotton- 
picking  "  is  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  pages  thin 
ner  than  "  City  Lights."  All  three  of  the  books 
are  sold  at  the  same  retail  price,  —  two  dollars. 
And  on  all  three  I  was  allowed  but  seven  and  a 
half  per  cent.  That  is,  while  all  goes  smoothly,  a 
thinness  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  pages  is  of  no 
account.  It  neither  makes  the  price  of  a  book  less 
to  the  buyer,  nor  the  pay  of  a  book  greater  to  the 
author.  But  when  ripples  begin  to  rise,  a  thinness 
of  ninety-eight  pages  makes  the  buyer's  price  less 
by  fifty  cents,  and  the  author's  pay  greater  by  one- 
fourth.  Thinness,  thou  art  a  jewel ! 

One  thing  more  :  as  these  books  are  published  in 
uniform  style,  if  they  are  published  more  expensively 
than  most  books,  they  must  have  been  so  pub 
lished  in  the  beginning.  Therefore  the  relative 
pay  of  the  author  should  then  have  been  less.  But 
the  first  contract  is  made  out  according  to  the  usual 
custom,  at  ten  per  cent,  on  the  retail  price.  When 
the  author  was  unknown  and  the  sale  uncertain,  he 
received  ten  per  cent.  After  he  became  known, 
and  the  risk,  one  would  suppose,  must  have  been 
diminished,  he  went  down  to  six  and  two-thirds  per 
cent.  Great  is  the  mystery  of  publishing ! 


46  A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

Thinking  it  possible  that  smallness  of  sales  might 
have  something  to  do  with  it,  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Dane : — 

"  I  can't  tell  a  lie,  pa.  I  wish  I  was  satisfied, 
but  I  am  not.  If  Mr.  Hunt  had  said  this  to  me  in 
the  first  place,  I  dare  say  I  should  have  been.  The 
best  light  is  this  :  that  I  asked  him  a  question  to 
which,  for  three  months,  he  made  no  reply.  You 
asked  it,  and  he  answered  at  once.  This,  how 
ever,  is  a  slight  matter.  I  can  talk  about  it,  and 
scold  him  for  it,  and,  without  ever  forgiving  him, 
live  on  in  perfect  good-humor.  It  is  a  surface  mat 
ter,  and  if  this  is  all  it  is  nothing. 

"But  I  cannot  thoroughly  feel  that  this  is  all, 
and  I  cannot  be  the  same  without  feeling  so.  Mr. 
Jackson  knew  the  style  of  the  book,  so  did  Mr. 
Campton,  and  they  knew  the  expenses  of  printing ; 
and  if  Mr.  Hunt  had  so  much  regard  for  me  as  he 
thinks  he  had,  why  did  he  let  me  go  on  making 
myself  wretched  for  weeks,  when  an  hour's  time 
would  have  set  everything  at  rest  ?  He  who  really 
regards  me,  will  regard  my  whims  as  well  as  my 
wants.  And  this  was  not  a  whim,  either  ;  it  was 
a  sensible  and  natural  question.  Mr.  Hunt  is  mis 
taken  in  supposing  I  did  not  mean  what  I  seemed 
to  mean.  I  did  mean  just  that.  If  I  had  meant 
less,  I  should  have  felt  less.  I  am  not  a  simpleton 
to  break  my  heart  over  a  difference  of  opinion.  .  .  . 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  47 

"  I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  apply  to  any 
others  than  Marsh  &  Merriman,  and  Mr.  Camp- 
ton.  If  they  think  everything  is  as  it  should  be, 
then  be  it  resolved  that  it  is.  Enough  testimony 
is  as  good  as  a  feast.  Why  should  others  pay  me 
more  for  a  single  work  in  order  to  get  me  ?  Can 
they  afford  to  pay  more  than  he  ?  But  there  is  no 
good  in  talking  upon  uncertainties.  When  we  have 
found  out  any  actual  data,  we  can  cipher  on  inter 
minably.  I  trust  you  are  pleased  with  the  prospect. 
I  do  not  think  it  is  of  any  use  to  stop  here,  because 
inwardly  I  am  no  more  content  than  I  was  when  I 
began  —  not  so  much,  in  fact.  I  am  at  one  of 
those  places  where  it  is  easier  to  go  forward  than 
backward.  Indeed,  from  this  point  it  is  impossible 
to  go  back  to  where  I  was  when  I  started. 

"  Having  slept  over  it,  it  occurs  to  me  to  say 
that  I  think  you  better  see  Mr.  Campton  and  per 
haps  no  one  else I  am  afraid  it  will 

somehow  get  out." 

Mr.  Dane  took  my  accounts  to  Mr.  Campton  and 
laid  the  facts  before  him,  making  thus  the  matter 
personal  for  the  first  time.  He  reported :  — 

"I  have  had  a  long  talk  with  Mr.  Campton,  and 
stated  to  him  all  that  Mr.  Hunt  said  as  reasons  for 
his  course,  as  well  as  what  the  sales  had  been,  etc. 
He  says  your  books  are  not  within  his  —  Murray 
&  Elder's  —  usual  line  of  publication,  but  he 


48  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

knows  all  about  them.  He  says  nobody  would  ask 
you  to  receive  less  than  ten  per  cent,  on  the  retail 
price,  and  any  publisher  in  Athens  will  give  you 
more  for  anything  you  may  offer,  and  that  now  you 
ought  to  receive  for  all  past  sales  at  that  rate  on  all 
the  books,  and  that  you  would  be  entitled  to  that 
even  on  a  book  where  only  two  thousand  copies  sold. 
"  Mr.  Campton  measured  and  counted  the  pages, 
etc.,  in  your  books,  and  figured  the  cost  and  all  the 
items.  At  outside  present  prices  it  costs  to  compose 
and  stereotype  such  a  book,  $1.25  a  page,  or  $500 
for  400  pages.  That  is  the  whole  outlay  for  the 
plates  ready  to  print.  After  that,  the  books  cost, 
all  told,  say  52  cents  per  copy. 

"  The  publisher  receives,  including  what  he  re 
tails  and  gives  away,  an  average  of  $1.20  per  copy 
on  the  whole  editions. 

"Such  books  of  400  pages  cost  each  copy:  — 

Paper  and  press-work,         .         .         .         .24 

Binding, 23 

Stereotype  plates,  $500, 

10,000  copies,  each, 05 

.52 

Retail  price, $  2.00 

40  per  cent,  off,      .....     .80 

$1.20 
.52 

.68 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  49 

Of  which  the  publisher  has          .         .         .53 
The  author     .         .         .         .         .     '{    .     .15 

"  Old  Miasmas  "  has  only  310  pages,  and  so  costs 
less  by  25  per  cent.  Mr.  C.  says  the  books  can  be 
made  at  15  per  cent,  less  than  these  estimates,  but 

he  wanted  to  keep  within  bounds The 

advertising,  etc.,  are  part  of  the  usual  machinery  of 
all  publishers.  He  says  B.  &  H.,  so  far  from  mak 
ing  unusual  discounts  to  the  trade,  have  recently 
published  a  list  prescribing  so  little  discounts  that 
4  the  trade  '  are  offended." 

I  also  directed  Mr.  Dane  to  write  to  some  of  the 
Corinthian  publishers  to  ascertain  their  custom. 
He  wrote  to  Pearville  &  Co.,  and  received  the  fol 
lowing  reply  on  March  20  :  — 

"DEAR  SIR, — In  reply  to  your  favor  of  18th, 
beg  to  say  that,  in  the  absence  of  any  agreement, 
we  should  pay  to  the  author  10  per  cent,  on  the  re 
tail  price  for  all  copies  sold.  This  on  $2.00  would 
give  the  author  20  cts. ;  and  1.50,  15  cts.  per  copy. 
"  Very  respectfully,  B.  PEARVILLE  &  Co." 

My  confidence  in  Mr.  Hunt  was  lost,  and  I  was 
too  much  disheartened  to  do  anything  more  except 
to  close  my  connection  with  the  firm,  so  far  as  I 
could.  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Dane  :  — 

4 


50  A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

"Do  not  you  be  disturbed  by  this  unhappy  com 
plication.  If  you  do,  I  shall  be  desespere  indeed. 
There  is  nothing  to  be  done  between  Mr.  Hunt  and 
me.  There  is  nothing  between  us  worth  preserving. 
The  case  has  been  presented  to  him. 
He  is  not  inclined  to  do  anything,  and  I  certainly 
cannot  press  him.  Either  he  feels  that  he  is  right 
or  that  he  is  wrong.  If  the  former,  any  proceedings 
on  my  part  will  only  bring  on  active  antagonism. 
If  the  latter,  the  consciousness  of  it  is  penalty  severe 
enough  to  atone  for  all.  Moreover,  so  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  no  money  could  make  amends  for  what 
it  would  cost  me ;  and  in  fact,  having  lost  so  much, 
I  think  I  rather  enjoy  losing  the  money  too.  .  . 
I  would  not  see  Mr.  Hunt  any  more.  Let  it  all  go." 


V. 


SKIRMISHING. 


R.  BRUMMELL  had  written  me,  some 
time  before,  a  letter  on  some  business 
matter  connected  with  his  magazine,  the 
"  Buddhist,"  asking,  I  think,  for  a  contribution. 
Near  the  last  of  March  I  wrote  to  him  saying 
that  I  wished  to  have  my  editorial  name  removed 
from  the  covers  of  the  "  Buddhist,"  not  from  any 
dissatisfaction  with  its  management,  but  from  other 
causes ;  that  if  for  any  reason  it  might  be  awkward 
for  him  to  do  it  now,  I  would  not  press  the  matter, 
but  wait  his  convenience. 

I  had  no  quarrel  with  Mr.  Brummell.  My  ac 
quaintance  with  him  was  very  slight.  I  did  not 
suppose  he  knew  anything  of  my  dealings  with  Mr. 
Hunt,  and  I  made  no  reference  to  them. 

A  few  days  after,  I  chanced  to  see  that  my  name, 
with  those  of  the  other  editors,  had  already,  for  the 
last  two  numbers,  been  removed  from  the  covers  of 
the  "  Buddhist,"  and  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Brummell 
again,  saying  that,  if  I  had  discovered  that  fact 
sooner,  I  should  not  of  course  have  written  as  I  did. 


52  A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

He  replied  on  the  31st  of  March  :  — 

"  I  have  been  much  away  from  my  desk  this 
month.  During  an  absence  your  letter  —  with  an 
inclosure  or  two  —  came.  Before  I  could  reply  I 
was  again  called  away,  and,  just  returning,  I  re 
ceive  your  note  of  yesterday. 

"  I  wrote  to  you  in  the  first  place  because  I 
thought  you  really  took  an  interest  in  the  '  B.' 
as  well  as  accepted  its  annual  pecuniary  recogni 
tion  of  your  association  with  it,  and  because,  since 
the  completion  of  the  first  volume,  you  had  con 
tributed  but  very  sparingly  to  its  pages,  —  had  al 
most  ceased  even  to  send  me  good  advice  and  better 
criticism. 

"  I  did  not  consider  that  you  had  broken  off  rela 
tions  with  our  house  in  fofo,  just  because  you  fancied 
another  strong  box  more  secure  than  ours,  or 
wished  to  try  whether  the  parvenu  hawkers  and 
peddlers  of  books  could  make  the  future  of  your 
literary  life  more  pleasant  and  profitable  than  your 
past  had  proved  by  following  the  established  routine 
of  regular  publishing.  I  should  have  thought  that  I 
was  doing  you  an  injustice  had  I  allowed  myself  to 
fancy  that,  because  you  wanted  to  try  a  promising 
experiment,  you  and  ourselves  were  not  to  [be] 
considered  as  '  on  terms '  any  more.  Was  I  wrong  ? 

"  But,  beyond  this,  I  thought  that  if  any  difference 
of  opinion  were  to  arise  as  to  the  proper  earnings 


A  BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS.  53 

to  be  expected  from  your  books,  there  could  be  no 
question  as  to  the  return  made  by  the  '  B.'  for 
the  dozen  or  fifteen  articles  which  you  had  con 
tributed  to  it,  and  that  as  you  had  sent  but  two  pa 
pers  to  the  volume  of  1T67  and  none  for  that  of 
1768,  there  could  be  no  faux  pas  in  asking  you  to 
supply  something.  Again  —  was  I  wrong  ? 

"  A  word  as  to  the  matter  of  names.  It  was  my 
intention  to  ha.ve  no  editorial  names  on  the  new 
cover,  as  so  much  correspondence  has  been  inflicted 
on  '  the  trio,'  and  as  so  many  subscriptions  have 
been  sent  to  one  or  the  other  of  them  personally ; 
but  by  some  blunder  at  the  office,  the  names  crept 
on  twice  before  I  could  lay  them  quite. 

"  Am  I  to  understand  that  with  the  withdrawal 
of  your  name  from  the  cover  of  the  '  B.'  you  desire 
that  your  relations  with  Maga  shall  cease,  and  the 
allowance  heretofore  made  in  return  for  your  name 
—  and  for  your  contributions,  which  were  originally 
expected  to  be  monthly  or  when  desired  —  shall  no 
longer  be  passed  to  your  credit  ?  " 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  BRTJMMELL. 

"  Your  letter  of  March  31  is  before  me.  If  you 
will  be  so  good  as  to  refer  to  my  letter  to  which 
yours  is  a  reply,  I  think  you  will  find  a  declaration 
to  the  effect  that  my  wish  to  leave  the  magazine 
was  not  founded  on  any  dissatisfaction  connected 


54  A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

with  it.  I  certainly  meant  to  guard  against  the 
possibility  of  any  such  supposition  on  your  part. 
That  I  failed  to  do  so,  I  must  beg  you  to  attribute 
to  inability  and  not  to  disinclination  or  indifference. 
"  Nor  did  your  previous  letter  give  me  the  faintest 
shadow  of  offense.  I  was  never  otherwise  than 
gratified  whenever  you  asked  me  to  write.  When 
you  say  'your  contributions,  which  were  originally 
expected  to  be  monthly  or  when  desired,'  do  you 
mean  to  intimate  that  there  was  an  agreement  be 
tween  us  to  that  effect  ?  If  so,  permit  me  to  say 
that  such  an  agreement  never  existed.  Mr.  Hunt 

O 

came  to  me  in  Zoar  with  a  request  for  service  and 
an  offer  of  salary^  which  I  felt  obliged  to  refuse. 
He  then  offered  me  $ 500  per  year  for  the  use  of  my 
name  as  one  of  the  editors  and  for  such  service  as  I 
chose  to  give  the  magazine.  He  said  they  should  be 
glad  to  have  me  write  every  month,  but  I  should  be 
left  absolutely  free  not  to  write  at  all.  I  thought  the 
sum  altogether  too  great  for  what  I  should  be  able 
to  do ;  and  it  was  with  the  utmost  reluctance,  and 
only  after  much  urgency, —  and  because  it  was  Mr. 
Hunt  who  urged  it,  —  that  I  consented  to  the  ar 
rangement.  I  made  no  promises,  but  I  determined 
in  my  own  mind  that  I  would  send  something 
every  month ;  and  I  satisfied  my  editorial  conscience 
by  carefully  reading  every  number  as  it  came  out, 
and  noting  its  points,  as  you  perhaps  have  some- 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.  55 

times  found  to  your  sorrow,  or  at  least  fatigue.  I 
did  this  for  a  long  time.  Every  gap  in  the  earlier 
numbers  is  owing  to  a  story  rejected  or  delayed  by 
you,  not  to  any  failure  on  my  part  to  send  you  a 
story.  When  I  found  that  a  paper  would  lie  two 
or  three  months  in  your  hands,  I  thought  it  was  be 
cause  you  had  so  much  better  things  to  print,  and 
I  considered  that  I  was  doing  you  a  kindness  by  not 
sending  so  frequently ;  and  therefore,  whenever  you 
did  ask  me  to  write,  I  took  it  as  a  compliment,'  and 
was  always  pleased.  You  cannot  speak  more  dis 
paragingly  than  I  think  of  my  actual  services  on 
the  '  Buddhist,'  but  I  could  wish  that  your  opin 
ion  had  found  an  earlier  expression.  Permit  me 
distinctly  to  say  that,  until  the  reception  of  your 
last  letter,  my  relations  towards  you  in  connection 
with  the  magazine  were  always  agreeable ;  while 
my  original  scruples  regarding  the  money  value  of 
such  an  editorial  arrangement  were  long  ago  set  at 
rest  in  the  most  conclusive  manner  by  other  pub 
lishers. 

"  I  do  wish  you  to  understand  that  I  desire  my 
relations  with  the  magazine  shall  cease  at  the  earli 
est  possible  moment. 

"  That  part  of  your  letter  which  refers  to  my 
reasons  for  breaking  my  connection  with  your 
house,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  characterize,  and 
equally  impossible  for  me  to  reply  to." 


56  A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

MR.    BRUMMELL    TO    M.    N.,    APRIL   4. 

"  I  have  your  letter  of  the  1st  instant,  and  I 
thank  you  for  it. 

"  May  I  correct  the  slight  misunderstanding  of 
my  position  which  I  fancy  I  detect  in  your  reply, 
and  for  which  I  am  doubtless  responsible  by  reason 
of  some  ineffectiveness  in  my  way  of  4  putting 
things.' 

"  My  notion  was,  that  if  your  relation  with  the 
4  B.'  had  been  agreeable,  and  your  work  satisfactorily 
paid,  I  should  be  sorry  to  lose  you  as  helper  and 
adviser,  because  you  felt  that  you  could  publish  else 
where  and  otherwise  to  better  advantage.  Pray 
consider  that  you  and  I  have  only  been  in  commu 
nication  in  regard  to  this  magazine  ;  of  the  precise 
manner  and  nature  of  your  dealing  with  our  senior 
partner  in  other  matters,  I,  of  course,  can  know 
nothing.  I  can  only  receive  the  results. 

"  I  had  understood,  on  taking  up  the  plan  pre 
pared  for  the  '  B.,'  that  its  ostensible  editors  were 
to  be  regular  contributors,  —  supplying  for  its  pages 
articles  whenever  wanted,  even  as  often  as  monthly. 

"  If  I  misapprehended  the  agreement  with  your 
self,  you  must  excuse  me,  and  acquit  me  of  inten 
tionally  overstraining  it.  I  did  use  your  articles 
slowly,  for  the  reason,  on  the  one  hand,  that  I  sel 
dom  had  by  me  more  than  one  at  a  time,  and  could 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.  57 

not  exactly  count  upon  the  receipt  of  another  ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  because  I  knew  you  to  be  busy 
on  other  things,  and  hesitated  to  take  from  you 
time  which  you  might  prefer  to  use  differently, 
thinking  that  when  you  were  moved  to  write,  you 
would  do  so. 

"Believe  me,  your  letters  of  suggestion  were 
always  welcome,  and  would  still  be  so.  If  anything 
in  my  last  note  —  which  was  somewhat  hurried  — 
seemed  to  be  cast  in  the  form  of  a  reflection  upon 
you,  I  hope  that  you  will  consider  that  I  did  not  so 
intend  it. 

"  I  'have  neither  the  right  nor  the  desire  to  im- 

O 

pugn  your  reasons  for  seeking  another  channel  of 
communicating  with  the  public  than  such  as  B.  and 
H.  have  been  able  to  afford,  and  I  do  not  think  I 
implied  anything  to  the  contrary.  It  is  for  you  to 
make  the  best  market  of  your  writings  that  you 
can ;  and  although  I  may,  as  well  as  any  other  pub 
lisher,  have  my  own  view  of  what  you  should  do, 
and  what  should  be  done  for  you,  I  am  most  far 
from  wishing  you  to  accept  my  view  "unconvinced, 
and  I  do  not  even  offer  it  therefore. 

"  I  honestly  and  earnestly  wish  you  as  thorough 
success  as  you  can  desire  ;  and  I  hope  that  after  you 
have  put  other  publishers  to  the  real  test,  —  not  of 
telling  you  what  their  brethren  ought  to  do,  but  of 
themselves  doing  what  they  say  should  be  done,  — 


58  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

you  will  find  as  complete  satisfaction  from  the  gen 
eral  average  of  your  next  Jive  or  six  years,  as  I  am 
inclined  to  think  you  might  derive  from  a  consid 
eration  of  a  similar  period  just  ending. 
"  Sincerely  yours, 

"H.  M.  BRUMMELL." 

Solomon,  in  the  enthusiasm  of  his  love  for  his 
little  sister,  conjures  up  quaint  fancies  to  embody 
his  ardent  longings  to  lavish  gifts  upon  her.  "  If 
she  be  a  wall,  we  will  build  upon  her  a  palace  of 
silver ;  and  if  she  be  a  door,  we  will  inclose  her 
with  boards  of  cedar."  So,  if  this  correspondence 
with  Mr.  Brummell  were  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  one 
would  express  his  admiration  by  writing  a  commen 
tary  upon  it.  His  especial  appreciation  would  be 
given  to  the  childlike  innocence  with  which  Mr. 
Brummell  darts  out  of  his  path  in  pursuit  of  chimeri 
cal  beetles,  while  admonishing  me  to  remember  that 
we  are  concerned  with  but  a  single  bug.  Nor 
would  he  refuse  the  meed  of  one  melodious  tear  to 
the  naivete  with  which  this  complete  letter-writer, 
in  his  first  epistle,  lays  bare  the  mercenary  motives 
of  his  correspondent,  and,  in  the  second,  calmly  af 
firms,  as  a  corollary  to  his  propositions,  that  he 
knows  nothing  about  the  matter.  We  are  all  aware 
that  men  do  speak  unadvisedly  with  their  lips,  but 
the  unconscious  sweetness  of  Mr.  Brummell's  ad- 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  59 

mission  is  the  peculiar  gift  of  Heaven  to  Mr.  Brum- 
mell.  The  learned  commentator  might  not  be  able 
to  throw  any  light  upon  the  points  which  are  obscure 
to  Mr.  Brummell ;  nor  can  the  impartial  historian 
furnish  any  clew  to  the  mystery  of  the  "  strong 
box,"  the  "  promising  experiment,"  and  the  "  par 
venu  hawkers  and  peddlers,"  so  significantly  men 
tioned.  The  present  writer  has  no  information  on 
these  points,  and  is  inclined  to  believe  that  Mr. 
Brummell  evolved  them,  as  the  German  philosopher 
did  the  camel,  from  his  moral  consciousness. 

But  the.  question  is  not  of  sacred  but  profane 
literature,  and  we  will  not  darken  counsel  by  words 
without  knowledge. 

Until  about  the  middle  of  March,  this  matter  had 
not  been  mentioned  to  any  one  except  Mr.  Dane. 
Seeing  the  sea-change  into  something  rich  and 
strange,  to  which  it  was  liable  at  the  hands  of  the 
house  of  Brummell  &  Hunt,  I  thought  it  might 
be  well  to  give  my  own  version  of  it ;  and  I  spoke 
of  it  to  some  of  those  who  were  nearest  me,  and 
learned,  as  reported  in  a  letter  of  April  18,  to  Mr. 
Dane  :  "A.  was  not  much  taken  aback  by  the  as 
pect  of  my  affairs,  —  thinks  they  have  only  done 
by  me  as  by  others ;  if  one  is  '  up  '  to  such  things, 
he  makes  his  bargains  ;  if  he  leaves  it  to  them,  he 
gets  theirs,  such  as  they  are.  A.  has  done  just  as 
I  did,  never  said  anything  about  it,  and  they  pay 


60  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

what  they  choose.  What  they  choose  is  twelve 
and  a  half  cents  on  a  dollar  and  a  half  book,  and 
ten  cents  on  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  book.  He  says 
he  has  made  some  inquiries,  and  supposes  he  could 
get  more  elsewhere,  but  "  O,  he  is  rich  !  "  B.  has 

ten  per  cent,  written  contract.     says  D.  has 

the  same.  E.,  of  his  own  accord,  told  a  friend  of 
mine  that  he  did  not  think  B.  &  H.  were  good 
publishers  for  authors,  as  they  advertised  so  little, 
and  had  no  agencies  for  pushing  sales.  I  don't 
agree  with  that,  for  I  would  much  rather  a  book 
would  travel  on  its  own  merits.  In  fact,  I  have 
always  especially  rejoiced  in  that  attribute  of  B. 
&  H.  A.  says  K.  is  shrewd  and  he  has  no 
doubt  he  is  well  paid.  But  what  is  the  use  of  talk 
ing  about  it  any  more  ?  " 

MR.    DANE   TO    M.    N. 

"  To  us  mere  mortals  it  seems  as  if  you  authors 
were  —  as  the  countryman  told  Arthur  Gilman  his 
lecture  was  — '  plaguey  kinder  shaller.'  That  .  .  . 
you  should  surrender  yourself  at  discretion  to  some 
publisher  is  natural  enough,  but  that  A.  should  be 
systematically  humbugged  out  of  his  dollars,  and 
have  the  credit  which  I  —  and  I  presume  mankind 
generally  —  gave  him  for  exacting  so  much  for  his 
copyright  as  to  make  the  price  of  his  epistles  and 
things  extortionate,  is,  as  the  man  said  of  his  wife's 


A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 


61 


death,  ridiculous.  There  is  nothing  in  the  last  '  Adri 
atic  '  but  's  poem.  Tell  him  that  the  world 

thinks  he  imposes  on  us  by  making  us  pay  a  dollar 
and  a  half  for  his  very  thin  books.  We  suppose  he 
gets  their  weight  in  gold  per  copyright." 


VI. 

A    TRUCE. 

HEN  for  a  time,  other  events  absorbed 
me,  and  the  whole  matter  faded  out  of 
sight  and  thought. 
Afterward,  to  save  the  trouble  of  repeated  ex 
planations,  I  determined  to  arrange  the  tragedy  in 
compact  shape,  and  let  such  of  my  friends  as  cared 
to  know,  learn  it  from  the  "  original  documents." 
Accordingly  on  the  27th  or  28th  of  May,  I  wrote 
to  Mr.  Hunt :  — 


"  Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  permit  me  to  take 
copies  of  those  letters  that  I  have  sent  you  which 
resulted  in  breaking  the  connection  between  us  ?  I 
have  not  my  papers  by  me,  and  cannot  give  you 
the  exact  dates  of  the  letters  I  want,  but  the  first 
was  sent  on  or  about  the  last  of  December,  the  next, 
etc.,  etc.,  etc.  If  you  desire  it,  I  will  return  the 
letters  to  you,  or  if  you  prefer  that  they  should  not 
go  out  of  your  hands,  and  will  say  when  and  where 
I  can  see  them,  I  shall  be  happy  to  suit  your  con 
venience." 

Mr.  Hunt  did  not  reply  to  this  letter  directly,  but 
sought  an  interview  with  Mr.  Dane. 


A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  63 

MR.    DANE    TO    M.    N. 

"  Mr.  Hunt  lias  been  at  my  office  an  hour,  talk 
ing  of  you,  etc.  He  at  first  said  you  had  written 
him  for  copies  of  your  letters ;  that  he  is  taking 
account  of  stock  and  could  not  possibly  have  them 
copied  at  present,  and  wished,  if  I  were  writing  you, 
that  I  would  say  so.  I  said,  why  not  inclose  the 
letters  to  M.  N.,  and  ask  her  to  return  them  if  you 
want  them.  He  said  he  would.  He  seems  worried 
about  the  matter,  and  said,  *  If  I  only  could  know 
what  M.  N.  wants,  I  would  do  anything  to  satisfy 
her.'  I  said,  '  I  have  done  all  I  could  to  prevent 
a  final  breach  between  you.  From  all  I  could 
learn,  I  thought  M.  N.  had  not  received  what  she 
was  entitled  to.  Everybody  to  whom  we  referred 
expressed  this  opinion.  Nobody  suggested  that  less 
than  ten  per  cent,  was  right,  and  you  allow  her  six 
and  two  thirds,  and  seven  and  one  half.  Her  con 
clusion  was  inevitable,  that  you  had  not  done  right, 
etc.'  He  replied  with  various  abstractions  as  to 
how  authors  forgot  the  various  expenses,  etc. 

"  I  told  him  you  felt  hurt  that  he  did  not  no 
tice  your  letters  asking  explanation.  He  said  he 
wrote  you  to  come  and  see  him,  and  he  would  have 
gone  to  you  had  you  suggested  it.  I  said  what  I 
should  have  done,  was  to  see  you  and  explain  the 
matter,  and  not  allow  it  to  rest  so  for  weeks,  as  if  it 
were  a  matter  of  indifference,  etc.  Finally  I  told 


64  A   BATTLE    OF  THE   BOOKS. 

him  what  I  advised  you,  to  wait  for  their  next  ac 
count,  and  see  whether  they  would  not,  now  that 
high  prices  have  to  some  extent  passed  by,  allow  a 
further  percentage  ;  and  that  I  suggested  to  you  to 
write  them,  or  allow  me  to,  saying  that  it  was  hoped 
they  might  make  their  future  accounts  more  satis 
factory.  He  made  no  reply.  I  mentioned  that 
you  really  felt  that  the  '  Adriatic '  was  your  proper 
avenue  to  the  public,  and  had  a  paper  now  that  you 
hardly  knew  what  to  do  with.  He  said,  '  All  she 
has  to  do  is  to  send  it  along.'  Well,  all  this  talk 
came  to  nothing.  The  only  fact  that  at  all  modi 
fies  my  views  is,  that  A.,  B.,  and  the  rest,  seem  to 
be  treated  the  same,  and  that  is  a  surprise  to  me, 
and  takes  off  in  a  measure  the  c of  taking  ad 
vantage  of  female  weakness.  Ahem  !  " 

M.    N.    TO    MR.    DANE,    JUNE  1. 

"  Your  letter  came  Saturday ;  but  my  letters 
have  not  yet  appeared  from  Mr.  Hunt.  His  talk 
to  you  looks  like  subterfuge.  I  never  suggested 
his  getting  the  letters  copied,  but  send  them  to  me 
and  I  would  return  them,  or  tell  me  where  and 
when  I  should  see  them,  and  I  would  wait  his  con 
venience.  Again,  what  have  I  to  do  with  the  ex 
penses  of  publishers  ?  I  am  not  complaining  that 
he  pays  small  per  cent.,  but  that  he,  in  the  first 
place,  pays  less  than  other  publishers,  and  sec- 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  65 

ondly,  pays  me  less  than  he  pays  other  authors,  and 
is  thereby  guilty  of  a  breach  of  faith." 

On  the  same  day,  May  29,  the  firm  of  Brum- 
mell  &  Hunt  addressed  a  letter  to  Mr.  Dane,  say 
ing,— 

"  We  have  occasion  to  print  several  volumes 
of  M.  N.'s  writings,  which  under  ordinary  cir 
cumstances  we  should  proceed  to  do  at  once.  Be 
fore  doing  so,  however,  in  the  present  posture  of 
affairs,  we  have  an  offer  to  make  to  M.  N.  The 
dissatisfaction  which  she  feels,  and  is  constantly  ex 
pressing  toward  us  as  her  publishers,  would  prob 
ably  lead  her  to  prefer  that  her  books  should  be  in 
other  hands.  We  are  willing  to  sell  the  stereotyped 
plates  and  manufactured  stock  of  her  books,  at  a 
reasonable  price>  to  any  publisher  with  whom  she 
may  choose  to  arrange  for  their  future  publication. 

"  An  early  answer  would  be  acceptable,  as  in  the 
event  of  our  retaining  the  books,  we  wish  to  pro 
ceed  writh  the  manufacture." 

MR.    DANE   TO    M.    N.,  JUNE  1,  1768. 

"  The  breezes  from  B.  &  H.  are  very  fluctu 
ating.  The  same  day  in  which  Mr.  H.  came  and 
had  the  long  talk  which  I  reported  to  you,  the  firm 
seem  to  have  written  the  inclosed,  which  I  did  not 
get  till  this  morning. 

"  If  you  don't  do  anything  for  a  month  nothing 


66  A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

in  particular  will  happen.  Still,  you  want  the  books 
in  the  market,  and  perhaps  somebody  will  take  them 
off  B.  &  H.'s  hands  and  do  as  well 

"  I  am  somewhat  inclined  to  say  to  them  that  we 
will  take  all  the  stereotype  plates,  and  all  the  books 
on  hand  of  them,  at  the  appraisal  of  fair  men.  And 
the  same  men  shall  adjust  all  claims  for  the  past 
copyrights. 

"  I  am  surprised  at  this  blunt  note,  after  Mr.  H.'s 
amiable  conversation.  If  we  are  going  to  have  a 
settlement,  let  us  open  the  past  and  make  them 
refer  the  whole  thing ;  let  them  give  up  everything 
and  adjust  the  balance  as  fair  men  shall  say  is 
right."  .... 

But  the  note  of  the  firm  did  not  suggest  any  set 
tlement  of  past  claims ;  and  therefore  presented  but 
a  lame  and  impotent  conclusion  to  the  matter. 
What  I  wanted  was  indemnity  for  the  past,  not 
security  for  the  future.  If  a  man  cheats  me  once, 
says  the  proverb,  it  is  a  shame  to  him.  If  he  cheats 
me  twice  it  is  a  shame  to  me.  The  information  that 
I  was  feeling  and  constantly  expressing  dissatisfac 
tion  might  perhaps  be  classified  among  the  "  locals  " 
as  "  startling  if  true."  What  I  felt  must  have  been 
entirely  a  matter  of  inference,  as  it  was  long  since 
I  had  expressed  either  satisfaction  or  dissatisfaction  ; 
I  had  been  concerned  in  other  matters.  My  note 


A   BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS.  67 

to  Mr.  Hunt  contained  no  emotional  expressions 
whatever.  But  as  I  had  had  my  full  share  of  sen 
timentalizing,  it  was  no  more  than  fair  that  Messrs. 
B.  &  H.  should  have  their  turn  at  it. 

Their  course  seemed  to  me  mere  child's  play, 
and  not  the  play  of  good  children  either;  which 
must  serve  as  excuse  for  the  following  reply  sent  to 

Mr.  Dane :  — 

• 

"  Your  letter  came  this  morning.  Messrs.  Brunl- 
mell  &  Hunt  have  improved  even  on  Mr.  Brum- 
mell.  His  felicitous,  original  idea  was  only  that  I 
was  impelled  by  a  desire  to  have  recourse  to  the 
"parvenu  hawkers  and  peddlers  of  books."  The 
combined  wisdom  of  the  firm  seems  to  point  to  my 
becoming  a  parvenu  hawker  and  peddler  myself. 
Their  fine  instinct  has  doubtless  divined  my  long- 
cherished  dream  of  setting  up  a  book- stall  beside 
the  orange-woman  in  the  neighboring  corner  of  the 
Common.1  Pray  present  my  compliments  to  Messrs. 
Brummell  &  Hunt,  and  say  to  them  with  many 
thanks,  that  as  this  new  career  could  hardly  be  said 
to  open  brilliantly  with  an  array  of  obsolete  and  ob 
solescent  volumes,  I  do  not  propose  to  enter  upon 

1  A  "  Common  "  is  a  tract  of  ground  which  belongs  not  to  individuals 
but  to  the  public.  Probably  the  bookstore  referred  to  was  on  the  out 
skirts  of  the  city,  and  the  "  Common  "  was  the  land  as  yet  unappropri 
ated  by  builders,  and  on  which,  doubtless,  sheep  and  cows  grazed  un 
disturbed.  —  Note  by  Editor. 


68  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

it  until  some  new  work  appears,  when  I  shall  crave 
their  blessing  not  their  books. 

"  Do  not  be  at  the  trouble  of  transmitting  this 

O 

message.     Send  the  letter  down  bodily,  and  let  it 
whistle  itself." 

On  Monday,  the  1st  of  June,  one  of  my  friends, 
Rev.  Mr.  Hayes,  having  gone  to  Mr.  Hunt  with 
the  olive-branch  in  tiis  hand,  but  without  iny  knowl 
edge,  and  been  completely  won  over  by  his  amiable 
bearing,  came  to  me,  and  begged  me,  if  only  out 
of  regard  to  himself,  to  have  an  interview  with  Mr. 
Hunt.  I  had  been  familiar  for  several  years  with 
Mr.  Hunt's  gifts  and  graces,  and  knew  that,  though 
they  were  charming  for  social  intercourse,  they 
were  not  easily  reducible  to  two  and  a  half,  still  less 
to  three  and  one-third  per  cent.  But,  as  Mr.  Hayes 
begged  me  by  his  friendship ;  as,  regarding  Mr. 
Hunt,  everything  which  I  had  cared  to  save  was 
lost,  and  as  I  wanted  my  letters,  which,  though 
promised,  did  not  come,  I  consented,  so  far  as  to 
give  Mr.  Hayes  permission  to  say  to  Mr.  Hunt  that 
if  he  chose  to  come  to  my  house  to  bring  my  letters, 
I  would  be  at  home  on  Thursday,  the  4th  of  June. 

M.    N.    TO    MR.    DANE. 

"  Mr.  Hunt  is  coming  down  on  Thursday  to  bring 
me  my  letters.  I  think  it  a  foolish  and  useless,  as 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  69 

it  is  a  most  disagreeable  thing ;  foolish,  simply  be 
cause  useless ;  but  I  have  agreed  to  it  so  far  as  to 
say  that  I  should  be  at  home.  The  talk  will  amount 
to  nothing  because  I  cannot  talk.  He  will  have  it 
all  his  own  way,  because  it  is  a  subject  on  which  he 
is  informed  and  I  am  not.  And  then,  talk  is  never 
tangible.  I  want  something  that  you  can  keep  hold 
of.  But  at  any  rate,  I  shall  get  my  letters.  It  is 
impossible  to  refer  it  to  arbitrators,  because  the 
worst  part  of  my  trouble  was  not  of  such  sort  as 
,  could  come  before  them.  I  will  never  permit  the 
matter  to  go  before  arbitrators  unless  it  comes  to  be 
a  case  of  honor.  That  is,  I  will  not  do  it  for  the 
sake  of  what  money  I  might  get." 

M.    N.    TO    MR.    DANE. 

"  Mr.  Hunt  came  down  on  Thursday,  as  I  ex 
pected.  He  was  in  some  sort  my  guest,  and  we 
met  amicably,  and  parted  friendlify.  The  most  im 
portant  development  of  his  visit  was,  that  [he  says] 
he  did,  in  the  early  stages  of  the  affair,  send  me  just 
such  a  letter  as  I  told  him  he  should  have  sent,  —  a 
letter  written,  as  he  says,  by  his  own  hand,  because 
he  would  not  have  his  clerk  mixed  up  in  it ;  written 
with  great  pain,  and  the  only  letter  he  has  written 
since  his  hand  has  been  so  lame,  except  one  to 
Dickens.1  In  this,  he  assured  me  that  it  was  all 

1 "  The  dickens !  "  is  an  exclamation  of  playful  surprise.    Probably 


70  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

right,  that  he  had  the  figures  to  show  me  so,  not 
withstanding  appearances  ;  and  begged  me  to  let 
him  come  to  Zoar  and  do  so.  This,  without  any 
other  explanation,  would  have  quite  satisfied  me  in 
the  beginning ;  but  this  letter  I  never  received.  Of 
course,  however,  I  receive  his  assertion  that  such  a. 
letter  was  written,  and  I  make  the  best  use  I  can 
of  it.  He  assured  me,  in  the  most  solemn  manner, 
that  he  has  done  by  me  as  he  has  done  by  A.,  B., 
and  the  others  ;  and  that  he  has  always  done  what 
he  thought  the  best  thing  and  most  to  my  advan 
tage.  Now,  when  a  man  tells  me  that,  I  can  have 
nothing  more  to  say  to  him.  H.  has  a  greater  per 
centage  because  his  books  have  never  been  printed 
but  once,  and  that  when  work  was  cheaper,  and  so 
they  pay  him  at  the  old  prices.  But  I  will  go  into 
particulars  more  fully  when  I  see  you.  I  suppose 
it  is  pretty  much  the  same  as  you  have  heard  your 
self.  ....  He  admitted  that  he  did  not  wonder 
at  my  course,  seeing  I  had  not  received  his  letter, 
yet  seemed  to  think  I  should  have  had  more  confi 
dence  in  him  ;  had  always  supposed  /  should  stand 
by  him,  though  the  heavens  fell.  The  heavens  did 
not  fall,  though  I  sometimes  think  a  part  of  the  sky 
is  not  there.  I  told  him  that  I  had  no  intention  to 

the  word  as  here  used,  is  a  corruption  of  this  phrase,  and  wa?  merely 
a  strong  way  of  expressing,  on  Mr.  Hunt's  part,  that  he  had  written 
no  other  letter  at  all.  But  after  eo  great  a  lapse  of  time  it  is  impossi 
ble  to  get  at  the  exact  truth.  —  Note  by  Editor. 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  71 

meddle  with  the  past  ;*  agreed  that  they  should  go 
on  with  their  books  as  if  nothing  had  happened,  and 
desired  him,  whatever  course  I  might  take  in  the 
future,  to  believe  me  not  unfriendly  toward  himself, 
but  that  the  developments  of  this  trouble  had  made 
it  impossible  for  me  at  once  to  resume  my  old  place. 
But  I  don't  think  he  minded  that. 

"  Now  you  see  ....  we  are  at  peace.  I  do  not 
deceive  myself.  It  is  not  a  very  rapturous  sort  of 
peace.  The  relations  between  us  are  but  a  thin, 
meagre,  unsubstantial  substitute  for  those  that  for 
merly  existed  ;  but  they  are  better  than  war  —  and 
they  are  truer  than  the  old  ones,  —  and  truth  is 
better  than  falsehood,  however  agreeable  the  false 
hood  be.  I  do  not  mean  that  on  either  side  there 
was  any  intentional  falsehood,  but  that  there  was  a 
sort  of  glamour  which  is  now  removed. 

"  Now,  if  any  one  ever  speaks  to  you  of  this,  say, 
as  I  shall,  that  there  was  a  misunderstanding,  but 
that  it  is  removed. 

"  I  hope  that  you  will  not  disapprove  of  what  I 
have  done ;  or  perhaps,  rather,  of  what  I  have  not 
done,  for  my  action  has  been  chiefly  a  negative. 
1  have  simply  let  things  be,  in  form,  which  I  have 
always  meant  to  do  in  substance.  He  assures  me 
that  it  is  all  right,  and  I  cannot  stand  up  and  dis 
pute  his  word." 


72  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

Mr.  Hunt,  during  this  interview,  insisted  that  at 
the  time  he  made  the  change  from  ten  per  cent,  to 
fifteen  cents,  he  had  a  long  talk  with  me  and  fully 
explained  the  reason.  I  insisted  that  he  never  had 
done  so.  I  admitted  that  he  had  announced  that 
he  was  going  to  make  the  change  on  account  of  the 
fluctuations  in  the  prices  of  things,  and  the  conse 
quent  uncertainties.  It  was  all  I  wanted,  and  more. 
If  he  had  said  nothing  I  should  have  been  just  as 
well  satisfied,  I  had  so  much  faith  in  him.  A  posi 
tive  assurance  generally  carries  it  over  a  negative. 
Still,  if  a  man  asserted  that  he  had  offered  himself 
to  a  girl,  her  negative  assertion  that  he  never  had, 
would,  of  itself,  be  entitled  to  as  much  credence  as 
his  positive  one,  supposing  the  character  of  both  to 
be  equal.  If  the  man  were  in  the  habit  of  offering 
himself  to  girls,  while  the  girl  had  never  had  another 
lover,  her  negative  would  surely  outweigh  his  posi 
tive.  Mr.  Hunt  had  dealings  with  many  authors. 
He  was  my  only  publisher,  and  he  was  more  likely 
to  be  mistaken  in  this  than  I.  He  might  have  in 
tended  to  make  the  explanation,  or  might  have 
made  it  to  some  one  else ;  but  an  explanation  made 
to  me,  it  is  next  to  impossible  I  should  have  for 
gotten. 

Really,  the  matter  was  not  of  importance,  because 
if  he  had  made  it  then  it  would  have  answered 
every  purpose.  If  I  could  have  been  made  to  see 


A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  73 

at  one  time,  that  seven  and  a  half  equals  ten,  I 
could  have  been  made  to  see  it  at  another. 

Here  the  controversy  seemed  to  have  come  to  a 
natural  and  pacific  conclusion,  and  I  began  to  take 
up  the  burden  of  life  again,  saying  only,  it  might 
have  been  different  perhaps,  but  then  it  might  not. 
I  cannot  affirm  that  I  was  entirely  satisfied  about  the 
missing  letter.  Letters  never  are  lost  in  our  climate. 
We  often  wish  they  would  be.  There  are  dozens 
in  this  correspondence,  nothing  in  whose  life  would 
have  become  them  like  the  leaving  it.  But  they 
all  went  straight  as  an  arrow  to  the  mark,  and  now, 
like  Burns'  sonsie,  smirking,  dear-bought  Bess, 

"They  stare  their  daddy  in  the  face; 
Enough  of  aught  ye  like,  but  grace." 

On  the  24th  of  February,  Mr.  Hunt  seemed  first 
to  have  awakened  to  the  fact  that  there  was  any 
cloud  in  the  sky,  and  begged  me  in  all  kindness  to 
tell  him  the  ground  of  my  sudden  dissatisfaction. 
Of  course,  the  missing  letter  could  not  have  been 
written  before  that  time.  After  I  replied  to  him, 
alleging  the  grounds  of  my  sudden  dissatisfaction,  he 
replied  by  calling  on  Mr.  Dane,  as  Mr.  Dane's  let 
ter  to  me  shows.  I  was  not  only  unable  to  find  any 
place  where  Mr.  Hunt's  explanatory  letter  might 
have  been  missing,  but  I  could  not  find  a  place 
where  it  could  have  come  in. 

But  I  let  that  pass.     There  seemed  to  be  nothing 


74  A  BATTLE   OF    THE  BOOKS. 

more  to  do,  and  if  there  had  been,  I  was  too  tired 
to  do  it.  I  thought  the  affair,  like  David's  de 
structions,  had  come  to  a  perpetual  end,  which,  if 
not  absolutely  satisfactory,  was  at  least  relatively 
so.  There  are  very  few  kinds  of  peace  which  are 
not  better  than  war.  I  was  not  sure  I  had  done 
the  wisest  thing,  and  as  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Dane  in 
review  of  it,  "  to  speak  the  truth  in  love,  I  don't 
much  care.  That  is,  the  whole  affair  had  become 
so  utterly  tiresome  to  me  that  I  long  ago  grew  in 
different  to  it.  How  the  business  part  of  it  should 
be  settled,  I  little  cared.  What  I  really  had  at 
stake,  is  lost." 


VII. 


RENEWAL    OF    HOSTILITIES. 


UT  the  traces  of  battle  had  hardly  begun 
to  be  obliterated,  when  an  unexpected  cir 
cumstance  suddenly  rekindled  the  flames 
of  civil  war. 

My  sorrow's  crown  of  sorrow  had  been  that  so 
bewailed  in  the  lamentations  of  the  prophet,  that 
there  was  no  sorrow  like  unto  my  sorrow ;  but  by 
the  chance  of  a  word,  without  any  revelation  on 
my  part,  I  discovered  that  a  friend  of  mine  was,  and 
had  been  for  some  months,  going  through  the  same 
pleasant  process  which  I  had  been  enjoying.  The 
similarity  of  operation  was,  in  certain  respects, 
remarkable.  No  accounts  had  been  rendered  for 
years,  the  author  trusting  entirely  in  the  friendship 
of  his  publishers  ;  so  that  of  course  there  were  no 
papers  to  be  produced.  But  there  was  the  same 
change  from  a  still  higher  percentage  to  a  lower 
fixed  sum ;  the  same  assertion  on  the  one  side,  of  a 
full  explanation  made  and  accepted,  which  explana 
tion  was  totally  denied  on  the  other ;  and  the  same 


76  A  BATTLE   OF   THE  KOOKS. 

declaration  of  regard  for  the  author  himself.  The 
case  was  more  aggravated  than  mine,  not  only  be 
cause  the  author  in  question  had  been  of  an  immeas 
urably  higher  standing  than  I,  but  also  because  he 
was  dead,  and  the  apparent  exactions  were  made 
upon  those  who  were  dearest  to  him  in  life,  and  who 
were  dependent  upon  the  fruits  of  his  genius.  So 
then,  mine  was  no  longer  an  isolated  case,  but  part 
of  a  regular  system.  How  many  of  the  writers  who 
had  received  reduced  pay  had  really  and  intelli 
gently  agreed  to  it,  and  how  many  had  found  it,  like 
greatness,  thrust  upon  them,  and  had  accepted  it  on 
the  representation  of  its  being  universal,  rather  than 
make  an  ado  and  appear  churlish  ?  My  friend  cer 
tainly  denied  that  any  explanation  had  been  made, 
or  even  that  any  notice  of  the  change  had  been  given 
her  beforehand,  and  she  rebelled  against  the  change 
as  soon  as  she  did  know  it.  Now,  it  is  hard  fighting 
just  your  own  battles,  since  no  matter  how  right 
you  may  deem  your  cause  for  quarrel,  still  it  is  a 
quarrel,  and  a  mere  personal  altercation  has  always 
something  in  it  petty  and  demeaning ;  but  if  you 
can  fight  for  somebody  else,  you  mount  at  once  to 
higher  ground  and  gain  the  vantage.  It  came  to 
me  at  once,  as  clear  as  light,  that  I  was  doing  ex 
actly  what  Messrs.  Brummell  &  Hunt  had  wisely 
counted  on  our  all  doing,  in  case  we  did  anything ; 
that  is,  fretting  a  little,  perhaps,  but  eventually  let- 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  11 

ting  it  all  drop,  silenced  if  not  convinced.  Was  it 
not  the  height  of  presumption  for  any  one  son  of 
Jesse  to  come  out  with  a  sling  and  a  stone  against 
this  Goliath  of  the  publishers  ?  Would  it  not  be 
ridiculous  to  charge  with  injustice  this  house,  whose 
praise  for  liberality  is  in  all  the  churches  ?  Of  course 
in  discussing  the  details  of  the  business,  the  author 
would  have  to  go  entirely  out  of  his  sphere,  while 
the  house  would  be  perfectly  at  home.  Still  I  thought 
if  I  could  not  be  a  stone  in  the  forehead  of  my 
giant,  I  could  be  a  thorn  in  his  side.1  If  he  were 
honorable  and  just  in  his  dealings,  no  charge  could 
harm  him.  If  he  were  unjust,  no  reputation  could 
save  him.  If  his  gains  were  well-gotten,  investiga 
tion  would  only  establish  him  more  firmly  in  his 
right  way.  If  they  were  ill-gotten,  it  might  be 
possible  to  prevent  his  repose  in  enjoying  them,  if 
he  could  not  be  induced  to  give  them  up,  and  he 
might  thus  be  deterred  from  farther  ravage  upon 
the  unwary.  The  best  way  to  serve  the  general 
weal  was  to  take  up  my  own  relinquished  cause.  I 
accordingly  once  more  put  my  hand  to  the  plough, 
resolved  not  to  look  back  till  I  had  drawn  a  straight 
furrow  through  my  pleasant  fields. 

While  I  was  reflecting  upon  total  depravity,  pre- 

1  The  Editor  trusts  that  it  is  not  necessary  for  him  to  point  out  to  his 
youthful  readers  that  this  spirit  is  not  presented  to  them  for  an  en- 
sample. 


78  A   BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS. 

paratory  to  a  renewal  of  hostilities  —  there  may  be 
a  sudden  transition  from  metaphor  to  metaphor,  but 
let  us  all  be  thankful  if  nothing  more  than  rhetoric 
becomes  demoralized,  —  the  following  note  came 
from  Mr.  Dane,  to  whom  I  had  communicated  the 
tale  of  Mrs. 's  fancied  or  real  woes,  August  10. 

"  Whether  those  five  postage-stamps  pasted  firmly 
on  the  first  page  of  your  note  were  intended  as  a 
birth-day  present,  instead  of  the  Family  Bible  which 
I  had  some  reason  to  think  I  might  receive  about 
this  time,  or  as  payment  of  arrears  for  services  in  re 
M.  N.  vs.  B.  &  H.,  I  do  not  know.  I  might  add, 
—  but  will  not  for  fear  of  being  sarcastical,  —  that  it 
is  far  more  than  I  expected  either  way,  and  that 
such  munificence  is  more  illustrative  of  the  gener 
osity  of  the  giver  than  of  the  deserts  of  the  hum 
ble  recipient. 

"  And  now  I  have  a  profound  secret  to  impart 
to  you  and  your  nine  particular  friends.  I  have 
kept  it  two  days,  and  had  some  thoughts  of  never 
telling  you,  but  since  you  claim  the  relation  of  client, 
I  am  not  at  liberty  to  humbug  you, — pardon  the 
inelegance,  —  as  I  cheerfully  would  do  were  you  only 
a  dear  female  friend.  Well,  Mr.  Edwards  called 
Saturday,  and  saying  to  him  that  I  spoke,  as  St. 
Paul  always  speaks  to  you  when  you  don't  agree 
with  him,  by  permission  and  not  by  my  own  inspira- 


A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  79 

tion,  I  renewed  our  griefs  '  Jules renovare  doloremf 
and  told  him  all.  He,  though,  like  the  rest  of  us,  true 
to  his  client,  is  evidently  intimate  with  Mr.  Hunt. 
He  said  B.  &  H.  are  willing,  and  propose  to  Mrs. 

that  the  contract  which  Mr.  Edwards  has 

made  with  them,  that  she  should  receive  twelve 
cents  a  volume  on  the  sales,  shall  be  given  up,  and 
that  they  will  refer  to  two  gentlemen  of  satisfactory 
character  the  matter  of  her  future  percentage.  .  .  . 

"  Then  with  that  admirable  frankness  which  is  so 
natural  to  me,  I  said  to  Mr.  Edwards  that  Mr.  Hunt 
had  made  a  great  mistake  with  you  ;  that  you  had 
accepted  his  commercial  civilities  as  personal  regard, 
and  that  he  ought  at  least  to  keep  up  the  standard 
of  his  conduct  lo  common  civility  in  his  correspond 
ence,  etc.,  and  that  it  was  only  because  you  would 
not  follow  my  advice  that  matters  were  allowed  to 
rest ;  that  my  opinion  was,  you  had  not  received  a 
just,  much  less  a  liberal  share  of  the  profits,  and 
that  I  had  urged  you  to  propose  to  refer  the  matter 
of  percentage  to  some  disinterested  person,  which  I 
thought  they  could  not  decline. 

"  Mr.  Edwards  at  once  said,  '  Mr.  Hunt  shall  do 
that.  That  shall  be  done  at  once.' 

"  Evidently  Edwards  thinks  he  can  induce  Hunt 
to  propose  that  to  you,  and  will  endeavor  to  do  so. 

"  Now,  I  thought  at  first  I  would  not  let  you  see 
my  hand  in  the  matter,  but  that  is,  on  reflection, 


80  A  BATTLE   OF  THE   BOOKS. 

not  quite  fair  as  between  man  and  man,  —  using  the 
word  in  its  largest  sense,  embracing  woman.  Where 
fore,  pray  do  not  call  on  B.  &  H.  for  any  account 
just  now,  but  wait  and  see  if  they  do  write  you,  as 
Edwards  is  sure  they  will,  proposing  to  satisfy  you 
in  this  way.  If  they  do  then  you  must  accept  the 
proposition,  provided  the  past  be  also  included,  for 
it  is  the  past  which  made  you  dissatisfied.  You 
have  not  yet  concluded  yourself  as  to  past  or  future, 
so  far  as  I  know  ;  and  if  the  best  man  in  the  world 
says  you  ought  to  have  no  more  than  has  been 
allowed  you  I  say  we  ought  to  be  satisfied.  The 
money  I  gave  you  ought  to  last  longer  than  this. 
If  you  want  a  hundred  dollars  send  me  an  order  on 
B.  &  H.,  and  I  will  present  it  and  send  you  the 
money,  and  that  will  not  commit  us  to  their  per 
centage. 

"  Now  I  expect  partly  that  you  will  be  vexed  at 
my  meddling  with  your  affairs  in  this  way;  but  fiat 
justitia,  etc.,  whoever  rue  it?* 

M.    N.    TO   MR.   DANE,    AUGUST  11,  1768. 

"  Unquestionably  you  need  the  Family  Bible  more 
than  the  postage-stamps,  which  I  did  not  paste  on. 
It  must  have  been  the  dog-days  that  did  it. 

"  Of  course  I  am  not  vexed  at  your  meddling, 
and  you  only  say  that,  as  you  express  it,  shamming. 
I  hate  to  have  the  thing  come  up  again,  but  it  may 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE   BOOKS.  81 

be  more  effectually  laid  by  it.  One  thing,  though, 
if  all  the  men  in  the  world  say  I  have  had  enough, 
it  will  not  alter  my  relations  toward  Mr.  Hunt. 
That  is,  if  he  proves  conclusively  that  his  terms  have 
been  just  and  liberal,  I  shall  still  think  that  his 
course  toward  me  since  I  began  to  make  inquiries 
has  been  ungentleman-like,  unfriendly,  and  calcu 
lated  to  arouse  instead  of  allay  suspicion,  and  that 
Mr.  Brummell  was  grossly  impolite.  So,  after  all, 
what  will  be  settled  by  a  reference  ?  Nothing  but 
the  money  affair,  which  indeed,  as  it  involves  justice, 
is  much,  but  as  it  does  not  involve  regard,  is  little. 
However,  integrity  is  all  the  world  wide  from  and 
more  than  good  manners.  I  will  not  send  for  any 
account  or  money  either.  I  let  a  friend  have  my 
money  for  a  few  months  to  accommodate  him,  so 
that  I  am  penniless  again  ;  but  I  can  borrow  plenty, 
and  Fred  and  Fritz  are  as  good  as  new  milch  cows 
in  a  house.  Why  I  am  in  such  a  hurry  to  write  is, 
that  I  have  a  letter  from  Hyperion  this  morning,  in 
which  he  seemed  to  think  you  would  be  the  proper 

person   to   act   for  Mrs.  ,  rather  than   Sir 

Matthew  Hale,  who  is  occupied  with  the  weightier 
matters  of  the  law.  Now  I  do  not  want  you  to  act 
for  her.  It  would  look  as  if  you  made  it  a  personal 
matter  ;  as  if  we  were  persecuting  Mr.  Hunt,  which 
is  not  true.  Mrs. 's  affair  is  as  entirely  dif 
ferent  from  mine  as  if  I  did  not  know  her  at  all. 


82  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

....  I  will  let  you  know  as  soon  as  I  hear  from 
Mr.  Hunt.  What  day  did  you  see  Mr.  Edwards  ? 
I  had  a  letter  yesterday  from  Smilex  conjuring  me 
to  write  for  the  '  Heretic,'  and  offering  me  good 
pay,  but  not  stating  what.  I  have  not  answered  it 
yet.  I  am  in  a  strait  betwixt  two,  not  to  say  half  a 

dozen If  B.  &  H.  send  to  me,  how  will 

it  do  for  you  to  come  down  ?  I  will  pay  your  fare, 
and  you  can  board  round  !  " 

MR.    DANE    TO    M.    N.,    AUGUST   14. 

"  How  foolish  in  you  to  expect  Mr.  Hunt  to  make 
you  any  such  proposition.  He  never  will,  though 
Mr.  Edwards  seems  sure  he  will.  What  do  you 
care  when  he  called  ?  Call  it  the  day  before  I 
wrote  last 

"  One  little  matter  of  business.  You  request 

me  not  to  act  for  Mrs. .  If  you  expect  me 

not  only  to  transact  your  business,  but  also  not  to 
transact  any  for  anybody  else,  you  will  see  the  ne 
cessity  of  your  charging  yourself  with  the  support 
of  my  family,  largely  dependent  on  my  business 
income  for  their  thrice  daily  bread 

"  As  to  writing  for  4  The  Heretic,'  you  doubtless 
desire  my  opinion,  though  diffidence  or  something 
prevents  your  saying  so.  If  it  was  not  a  dream  of 
yours  that  they  offered  you  a  million,  tell  them  you 
will  accept  that  proposition.  If  you  don't  publish 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  83 

something  soon,  I  have  no  doubt  you  will  have  a 
congestion  of  the  intellect. 

"  The  '  Respectability '  is  nothing  compared  with 
4  The  Heretic.'  As  you  write  under  your  own 
signature  you  will  not  be  responsible  for  the  rest  of 
the  paper.  You  want  the  pay,  —  to  lend  to  your 
friends,  who  will  increase,  as  your  capacity  to  lend 
is  known  to  increase. 

"  And  now  farewell ;  and  don't  expect  any  such 
letter  from  Hunt,  though  he  may  probably  write 
something." 

MR.  DANE    TO    M.  N.,  AUGUST    21. 

"  What  did  you  send  Mrs. 's  letter  to  me 

for,  if  you  don't  want  me  to  have  anything  to  do 
with  her  affairs?  Still,  homo  sum,  I  am  somewhat 
of  a  man,  and  although  forbidden  to  advise  Mrs. 
,  am  interested  in  general  history. 

"  You  did  not  promise  to  tell  .me  how  you  dis 
burse  your  money ;  and  what  good  can  it  do  for  me 
to  know  that  you  have  thrown  it  into  the  sea,  or 
laid  it  up  where  moths  and  rust  do  not  corrupt? 
You  are  not  fit  to  make  loans  as  matter  of  busi 
ness,  as  perhaps  I  intimated  to  you  soon  after  our 
chase  after  that  hundred  dollars  which  was  in  your 
basket.  I  hope  you  will  help  all  you  can.  There 
is  no  better  use  for  money,  when  one  has  plenty  of 
it,  and  I  trust  your  efforts  in  behalf  of  young  doc- 


84  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

tors  and  things  will  be  sanctified  to  their  and  your 
everlasting  good. 

u  As  to  sending  for  B.  &  H.'s  account,  I  have  no 
expectation  that  they  will  take  any  notice  of  Mr. 
Edwards'  advice,  or  make  you  any  proposition.  .  . 

"  The  question  is,  do  you  mean  to  take  just  what 
they  say,  or  do  you  propose  to  insist  on  more  than 
the  fifteen  cents  per  copy  ? 

"  As  you  don't  and  won't  take  my  advice  and 
make  them  do  right,  you  must  decide  what  you 


M.    N.    TO   MR.   DANE,    AUGUST  22. 

"  Why  I  sent  you  the  letters,  was  because  I  was 
interested  in  the  case,  and  what  I  am  interested  in 
it  is  proper  you  should  be  likewise.  All  is,  I  don't 
want  you  to  loom  up  as  her  advocate  ;  but  if  you 
know  the  circumstances  you  may  perhaps,  in  a 
quiet  wav,  keep  her  from  falling  into  a  ditch.  And 
so  you  being  wise  as  a  serpent,  and  I  harmless  as 
a  dove,  we  may  perhaps  circumvent  those  wicked 
and  unprofitable  servants  ..... 

"  Moreover,  as  you  have  already  observed,  the 
case  does  bear  directly  on  mine.  Not  only  do  they 
profess  themselves  willing  to  compromise  with  Mrs. 
-  on  ten  per  cent.,  but  in  this  letter  '  they 
say  '  that  *  even  B.  now  has  only  ten  per  cent.' 
(from  which  I  infer  that  he  has  had  more).  But 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  85 

Mr.  Hunt,  in  this  house,  told  me  that  they  did  by 
me  just  as  they  did  by  B. 

"  Now  I  do  not  feel  disposed  to  let  the  past  go. 
They  have  not  done  by  me  as  they  have  done  by 
others.  Why  would  it  not  do  for  you  to  make  the 
proposal  to  them  since  they  do  not  make  it?  I 
would  just  as  soon  make  it,  if  you  say  so.  Per 
haps  it  would  come  best  from  me  in  a  letter  to  be 
delivered  by  you.  I  have  no  sensitiveness  what 
ever  about  it.  I  am  as  hard  as  steel  towards  them. 
They  are  so  bungling  that  I  could  find  it  in  my 
heart  to  be  indignant 

"  I  do  not  propose  to  insist  on  ten  per  cent,  to  the 
extent  of  taking  my  books  away  from  them,  but  I 
am  ready  to  propose  a  reference.  If  they  agree  to 
it,  I  think  it  would  be  a  good  plan  to  find  out  what 
is  the  custom  of  other  publishers,  Troubadours,  for 
instance,  and  a  few  more  of  the  leading  ones. 

"I  will  also  get  one  or  two  more  of  B.  &  H.'s 
authors.  You  see  I  am  prepared  to  do  now  what 
you  wished  me  to  do  long  ago ;  but  do  not  plume 
yourself  on  that  fact,  for  the  timing  of  a  thing  may 
be  as  strong  a  test  of  wisdom  as  the  doing  of  it.  I 
must  keep  you  in  proper  subjection  at  any  cost. 

"  Mr.  Heath,  of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable,  came 
down  to  see  me,  Tuesday,  but  I  was  away. 

44  Three  hundred  dollars  for  what  I  can  do  is 
more  than  five  thousand  for  what  I  cannot.  , 


86  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

"  Monday  morning.  It  has  all  come  to  me  as  clear 
as  day  what  to  do.  You  find  out  when  the  prices 
of  the  books  went  above  $1.50.  Until  then,  ten 
per  cent,  and  fifteen  cents  were  the  same  thing.  In 
1T63,  they  had  not  gone  up.  Then  cipher  out  from 
my  accounts  precisely  how  much  is  due  me  on  all  the 
books  at  ten  per  cent.  Then  send  the  papers  to 
me  and  I  will  have  Fritz  prove  your  figures,  Fritzes 
being  good  at  'figgers.'  Then  I  will  write  to 
Mr.  H.,  saying  I  have  been  made  acquainted  with 

Mrs. 's  affairs,  and  that  he  offers  her  ten  per 

cent,  or  a  reference,  and  that  I  wish  he  would  make 
me  the  same  offer.  You  shall  see  the  letter,  and 
you  will  see  that  it  will  be  very  wise,  and  I  don't 
see  how  he  can  reject,  and  I  think  he  will  pay  the 
arrearage.  I  will  tell  him  exactly  what  is  due 
according  to  my  thinking,  and  if  he  sees  the  sum 
all  reckoned  up  for  him,  he  would  rather  pay  it 
than  have  any  more  fuss.  Probably  the  reason  he 
has  not  paid  before  is,  that  it  was  such  a  hard 
"  sum  "  to  "  do."  He  must  see  that  I  shall  be  a 
thorn  in  his  side  as  long  as  I  live,  and  we,  all  of  us, 
live  to  be  eighty." 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  HUNT,  AS  REFERRED  TO  IN  THE  PRE 
CEDING  LETTER.          9 

"  On  the  3d  of  August,  I  went  on  a  visit  to 
Mrs. ,  and  there  learned  for  the  first  time 


A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  87 

that  her  relations  with  you  were  not  satisfactory  to 
herself.  Since  then,  she  has  reported  to  me  some 
what  of  her  proceedings,  —  and  among  other  things, 
that  Mr.  Edwards  says  that  you  say  that  even  B. 
now  has  but  ten  per  cent.  But  I  understood  you 
to  say  the  last  time  you  were  here  that  you  did  by 
B.  just  as  you  did  by  me.  Also,  Mr.  Edwards 

says  that  you  are  quite  willing  to  pay  Mrs. 

ten  per  cent.,  or  to  refer  the  matter  to  disinterested 
persons  for  decision.  I  understood  from  you  when 
the  second  contract  was  made,  that  you  were  going 
to  do  by  all  just  as  you  proposed  to  do  by  me.  I 
understood  when  you  were  here  that  you  had  done 
by  all  just  as  you  have  done  by  me.  But  Mr. 
Edwards  reports  you  to  have  said  that  you  pay  B. 

ten  per  cent.,  and  are  willing  to  pay  Mrs.  

ten  per  cent.  C.  says  you  pay  F.  ten  per  cent.,  and 
G.  says  you  pay  her  ten  per  cent.  Why,  then, 
should  you  not  pay  me  ten  per  cent.  ?  You  have 
paid  only  six  and  two  thirds  and  seven  and  one 
half  per  cent,  on  a  large  part  of  the  books. 
So  long  as  the  price  of  the  book  was  $1.50, 
ten  per  cent,  and  fifteen  cents  were  the  same. 
After  the  price  went  up,  they  were  not  the  same. 
The  difference  it  would  not  be  hard  for  you  to 
ascertain  from  your  books,  and  this  difference,  I 
believe,  you  ought  to  pay  me.  If  you  think  you 
ought  not,  have  you  any  objection  to  refer  the  mat- 


88  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

ter  to  disinterested  persons  of  good  character  and 
capacity  ?  Of  course,  I  know  that  legally  I  have 
no  right  to  go  behind  a  contract,  and,  therefore,  no 
legal  claim  upon  you  for  additional  money  on  those 
books  that  are  named  in  the  contract." 

COMMENTS  OF  MR.  DANE  TO  M.  N.,  SEPTEMBER  5. 

"  And  so  you  have  sent  your  letter.  Much  good 
may  it  do  you.  My  private  opinion  is,  that  you 
wont  get  much  of  a  reply.  All  the  money  you  will 
make  out  of  the  frolic  is,  that  possibly  they  will 
allow  you  ten  per  cent,  or  more  on  future  sales. 
As  to  the  past,  the  woodchuck  left  that  hole,  when 
you  so  verdantly  assured  Mr.  H.  that  you  had  no 
idea  of  making  any  claims  for  arrears ;  and  any 
amount  of  barking  (pardon  me,  but  the  unity  of 
the  figure  must  be  maintained  at  any  cost)  will  not 
scare  out  another  animal. 

"  Man  is  not  a  rhinoceri-hos  that  his  skin  should 
not  be  pervious,  and  your  arrows  will  rankle  in  the 
4  firm '  skin  of  B.  &  H. ;  but  business  is  business, 
and,  though  a  prophet  spake  unto  them  from  above, 
a  larger,  louder  profit  speaks  to  them  from  below. 
By  the  way,  don't  consider  my  fees  contingent  on 
the  arrearages.  Arrearages  don't  maintain  families. 
....  I  want  to  see  you.  Perhaps  you  will  come 
over  and  get  that  money  of  B.  &  H.  for  arrearages. 
But  don't  wait  for  that." 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  89 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  DANE,  SEPTEMBER  7. 

"  It  is  easy  to  see  from  the  altered  tone  of  your 
letters  that  you  consider  my  case  hopeless.  For 
merly  you  were  deferent  and  sympathetic.  Now, 
wounded  dignity  forbids  me  to  say  what  you  are, 
but,  I  repeat  with  Mrs.  Porcupine  Temper,  in  the 
reading-book,  'Never  man  laughed  at  the  woman 
he  loved.  As  long  as  you  had  the  slightest  re 
mains  of  regard  for  me  you  could  not  thus  make 
me  an  object  of  ridicule.  Happy,  happy  Mrs. 
Granby!' 

"  I  wonder,  however,  that  you  should  not  have 
taken  warning  from  the  great  failure  of  Louis  Na 
poleon  anent  Maximilian,1  and  waited  till  I  was  ac 
tually  overcome  before  you  waxed  fat  and  kicked. 
The  figure  may  seem  rude,  but,  besides  being  ap 
posite,  it  is  Scriptural.  I  wish  you  were  susceptible 
to  ideas.  You  pounce  down  with  melancholy  per 
sistency  on  the  fact  that  I  assured  Mr.  Hunt  I  had 
no  idea  of  making  any  claims  for  arrearages, 
which,  by  the  way,  is  no  fact  at  all.  What  I  as 
sured  him  was,  that  I  had  no  intention  of  taking 
my  books  out  of  his  hands.  (That  is  what  I  meant 
by  not  meddling  with  the  past.)  Nor  had  I ;  nor 
have  I  now  even  —  but  never  mind  that.  The  point 
is  —  now  do  squinny  up  your  eyes  and  try  to  see 
it,  there's  a  dear,  you  cannot  think  how  nice  it  feels 

1  Here  the  narrative  seems  to  deviate  into  prophecy. — Note  by  Ed. 


90  A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

not  to  be  stupid  —  the  point  is,  when  I  told  Mr. 
Hunt  that,  or  when  I  talked  with  him  about  it,  he 
assured  me  that  he  had  done  by  others  just  as  he 
had  done  by  me.  I  had  never  investigated  his  deal 
ings  with  other  writers,  except .  What  you 

and  I  looked  into  was  the  way  of  other  publishers 
with  their  writers.  Did  not  you  yourself,  violating 
all  the  commandments  at  one  fell  swoop,  say  that 
other  writers  of  B.  &  H.  sharing  my  misery,  took 
off  the  —  the  —  the  —  kurrssee  —  of  imposing  on 
unsuspecting  innocence  ?  Well,  then,  so  I  con 
cluded  my  strength  was  to  sit  still,  and  still  accord 
ingly  I  sat,  till  I  found  they  had  not  done  by  their 
other  writers  as  they  had  by  me,  and  then  up  I 
sprang  again.  Now  it  seems  to  me  that  I  have  a 
right  to  open  the  case  all  new. 

"  See  here  —  let  us  put  it  scientifically. 

"  PART  i. 

"  Unexpressed  basis  of  operations,  B.  &  H.  will 
do  as  well  as  other  publishers. 
"  Ascertained  fact,  They  don't. 
"  Result,  I  fly  into  a  rage. 

"  PART  ii. 

u  Their  assurance,  They  have  the  same  rule  for 
all,  and  believe  it  to  be  the  best  for  all,  me  in 
cluded. 

"  Result  second,  I  am  calmed  if  not  convinced. 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  91 

"  PART  in. 

"  Unexpected  development,  They  do  not  have  the 
same  rule  for  all,  but  make  invidious  distinctions, 
contrary  to  their  own  direct  assertions,  and  Jam 
invidiously  distinguished. 

"  Result,  Seven  spirits  more  wroth  than  the  first, 
and  the  fat  in  the  fire. 

"  They  have  not  answered  my  letter  which  I  sent 
a  week  ago  last  Saturday.  It  is  their  way  of  doing 
business,  namely,  not  doing  it.  I  shall  not  write  again. 
What  I  think  should  be  done  next  is  for  you  to  call 
upon  them  and  make  a  proposal  of  reference  in  form 
—  if  there  is  any  such  thing.  What  I  wish  decided 
is,  not  future  percentage  merely,  but  past  per 
centage  ;  whether  my  claim  for  ten  per  cent,  on 
all  past  sales  is  or  is  not  founded  in  or  on  equity.  If 
you  are  present,  they  must  make  some  reply.  If 
they  assent,  the  Troja  may  be  comprehended  in  a 
mice.  If  they  refuse,  we  will  consider  as  to  the  next 
thing  to  be  done  —  but  find  that  out  first.  If  you 
don't  understand  this,  just  say  over  the  multiplica 
tion-table  two  or  three  times,  and  it  will  clear  you 
up  like  an  egg-shell.  The  figure  supposes  that  you 
are  a  pot  of  coffee. 

"  Your  candid  opinion  of  my  letter,  as  compared 

with  Mrs. 's,  is  undoubtedly  just,  as  well  as 

candid.  She  is  a  very  fine  woman,  far  my  superior, 


92  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

and  looks  upon  this  affair  quite  as  wisely  as  I ;  but 
if  I  think  the  same  as  she  does,  of  course  it  helps 
her.  I  wish  I  did  know  how  to  advise  her,  but  I 
don't,  and  you  would  not  twit  me  if  you  did  not 
think  I  was  going  by  the  board.  She  is  a  lovely 
woman,  and  it  is  wicked  in  them  to  make  her  so 
much  trouble.  I  suppose  I  was  born  for  storms, 
and  so  it  is  not  so  sacrilegious  to  rain  and  hail  and 
thunder  on  me.  But  if  you  don't  roar  me  gently, 
I  will  change  lawyers,  and  then  what  is  to  keep  you 
from  the  work-house  ? 

"  I  had  a  letter  to-day  from  Hawkers,  asking  me  to 
let  them  publish  a  book  for  me.  They  say  they  .... 
think  they  can  make  the  results  every  way  satisfac 
tory.  I  talked  with  Confucius  about  my  letter  to  Mr. 
Hunt.  In  fact,  I  talk  with  anybody  now,  —  enter 
tain  my  visitors  with  the  correspondence.  If  you 
don't  wish  to  wait  on  Mr.  Hunt  with  my  proposal, 
say  so.  I  would  invite  you  down  here  to  talk 
it  over,  but  there  is  nothing  in  the  house  to  eat  but 
a  lamb's  tongue  and  a  half,  and  a  pot  of  lard.  My 
housekeeper  has  disappeared,  and  the  season  is  over. 
Even  the  hens  have  stopped  laying.  A  friend  who 
came  Friday  and  stopped  till  to-day,  took  the  pre 
caution  to  bring  a  pair  of  chickens  with  him.  I  do 
not  mean  this  as  a  hint,  but  as  my  woman  is  gone, 
I  will  remark  that  unless  you  are  fond  of  fowl  a  la 
raw,  you  had  better  roast  your  chickens  before  you 
come. 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE   BOOKS.  93 

"  As  you  said  nothing  about  the  particular  point 

in  the letter,  I  suppose  your  brain  is  as 

blank  on  the  subject  as  mine.  But  I  have  not  that 
inordinate  love  of  brilliancy  that  I  cannot  open  my 
mouth  unless  I  expect  diamonds  to  drop  out.  I 
am  meekly  content  if  only  pebbles  fall  for  paving- 
stones  to  feet  that  I  love  !  Great  applause." 

MR.  DANE  TO  M.  N.,  SEPTEMBER  9. 

"  As  a  general  rule  or  fact  or  thing,  when  a 
lawyer  takes  a  view  of  the  case  less  hopeful  than 
the  client's,  and  presents  the  difficulties,  the  client 
suspects  that  the  lawyer  is  indifferent  to  his  interests, 
or  bribed  by  the  other  side.  Anything  rather  than 
that  his  case  is  hopeless.  Still  the  lawyer  must  be 
true ;  he  can  do  no  otherwise,  mat  cesium. 

"  Now  [here  follow  questions.] 

"  You  say  now  I  should  propose  a  reference.  Are 
you  willing  I  should  write  to  B.  &  H.,  and  say 
that  you  have  placed  with  me  (or  with  R.  and  me, 
for  we  are  partners  in  all  law  business,  and  have  no 
separate  names  as  lawyers)  your  claim  for  arrear 
ages,  with  instructions  to  enforce  them  by  law  ? 
If  you  are,  I  want  the  premier's  opinion  of  the 
matter,  and  if  we  think  you  have  a  case,  we  will 
proceed.  Now  that  you,  after  referring  Mr.  H.  to 
me  as  your  friend,  and  what  has  transpired  under 
that  arrangement,  have  had  a  personal  interview 


94  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

with  him,  which  you  announce  to  your  friends  as  a 
pacification,  and  have  opened  a  new  correspondence 
with  him,  proposing  a  reference,  there  is  embarrass 
ment  all  around.  My  office  of  friend  or  mediator, 
they  will  say,  is  finished.  They  cannot  be  expected 
to  deal  with  you  and  me  both.  I  think  if  they 
do  not  notice  your  proposition,  we  should  make  no 
further  move,  unless  it  is  to  be  followed  by  legal 
proceedings,  if  necessary.  .There  is  no  force  or 
fitness  in  a  proposition  from  me,  unless  we  have 
something  besides  wooden  guns  behind  it. 

Now,  I  wish  you  would  come  and  see  me.  I 
don't  eat  raw  chickens,  so  I  can't  go  there.  Here, 

there  are  good  victuals As  Mrs. 's 

case  bears t on  yours,  it  concerns  me  no  further,  ex 
cept  to  save  you  from  conspicuous  folly  in  your 

attempts  to  help.  Mrs. has  Mr.  Edwards 

for  her  friend,  adviser,  and  legal  counsellor,  and 
although  she  is  worrying  his  life  out  by  constantly 
twitting  him  of  his  folly,  in  the  contract  he  made 
as  administrator,  she  wants  no  other.  He  is  only 
skin  and  bone,  poor  man,  and  would  die  gladly, 

except  for  fear  of  meeting  in  some  place 

where  suicide  is  impossible,  and  "  twelve  cents  a 
volume  "  will  sound  forever  in  his  ears. 

"  If  B.  &  H.  do  not  reply  to  your  last  letter,  you 
may  depend  upon  it  that  nothing  but  legal  suasion 
will  move  them.  This  is  not  cross,  though  it  seems 
so.  I  am  your  very  amiable." 


A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  95 

FROM    B.  &  H.  TO    M.  N.,  SEPTEMBER  8. 

"  Your  letter  of  29th  ult.,  addressed  to  our  Mr. 
Hunt,  was  duly  received,  and  we  now  beg  to  reply 
on  his  behalf  and  that  of  the  firm. 

"  In  your  letter  you  assume  that  we  have  but  one 
set  of  terms  with  the  various  authors  whose  works 
we  publish.  In  this  you  are  in  error.  What  we 
pay  to  any  individual  author  is  a  matter  quite 
between  him  —  or  her  —  and  ourselves,  and  it  is 
not  our  custom  to  make  one  author  the  criterion  for 
another.  Many  elements  enter  into  the  case  that 
would  make  a  uniform  rate  impracticable.  Inde 
pendently  of  other  considerations,  the  varying  cost 
of  manufacture  caused  by  different  styles  of  publi 
cation,  would  alone  preclude  such  an  arrangement. 
We  must,  therefore,  decline  to  admit  such  an  argu 
ment  into  the  case. 

"  We  have  given  our  reasons  in  justification  of 
our  course  towards  you  in  full,  and  we  see  no  occa 
sion  for  repeating  them  here.  As  they  were 
unsatisfactory  to  you,  we  offered,  on  May  29  last,  in 
a  letter  to  your  attorney,  Mr.  Nathan  Dane,  to 
relinquish,  at  a  fair  price,  the  plates  and  stock  to 
any  publisher  whom  you  might  prefer.  This  offer 
we  now  respectfully  renew. 

"  Touching  arbitration,  we  may  say  that  at  an 
earlier  stage  of  the  proceedings  we  should  have 


96  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

been  willing  to  submit  the  matter  to  that  test.     At 
present,  however,  we  do  not  wish  to  do  so." 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  DANE,  SEPTEMBER  11. 

"  I  am  very  glad  you  did  not  go  to  B.  &  H.'s,  as 
the  day  after  my  letter  to  you  went  I  received  one 
from  them,  saying,  '  In  your  letter,'  etc. 

"  As  the  proceedings  have  been  of  an  entirely  pri 
vate  nature,  without  any  cost  of  money,  and  with 
the  outlay  of  but  a  few  pages  of  note  paper  on  their 
part,  I  do  not  see  why  the  question  of  time  is  so 
important. 

"  What  I  propose  now  to  do,  is  to  have  you,  if 
you  see  no  objection,  send  them  by  mail  the  note 
which  I  inclose  to  you  for  them. 

"  Legal  proceedings  I  cannot,  for  a  moment,  think 
of  instituting.  Even  if  I  should  gain  the  case,  it 
would  be  at  a  cost  altogether  too  great.  I  think  it 
would  be  far  wiser  for  me  to  go  on  winning  new 
laurels  than  to  spend  my  energies  in  trying  to  pick 
up  the  withered  twigs  of  last  year's  growth  !  The 
figure,  I  perceive,  has  serious  defects,  but  you  don't, 
so  we  will  let  it  pass.  I  think  now  the  whole 
thing  wrould  far  better  be  suffered  to  remain  quiet. 
I  shall  be  gathering  facts  which  will  one  day  take 
shape,  but  I  do  not  know  what.  Knowledge,  how 
ever,  is  always  useful,  and  certainly  one  cannot 
move  an  army  unless  one  has  an  army. 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.  97 

u  So  I  suppose  there  is  no  need  of  answering  your 
other  questions. 

"  I  think  it  is  as  well  to  let  the  books  be  where 
they  are Unless  I  find  there  is  more  ad 
vantage  to  be  gained  by  a  removal  than  I  can  see, 
the  game  would  not  be  worth  the  candle. 

"  I  feel  more  satisfied  than  I  have  done  at  any 
time  since  the  trouble  began.  (While  the  child 
was  yet  alive,  I  fasted  and  wept.  But  now  he  is 
dead,  wherefore  should  I  fast  ?)  Their  refusal  to 
refer  seems  to  put  me  in  open  seas  again. 

"  You  say  you  are  not  cross,  and  I  know  you  tried 
hard  not  to  be.  In  fact,  you  have  been  an  angel 
of  patience  all  through,  and  I  mean  to  reward  you 
by  conducting  you  honorably  through  some  difficult 
Hell-gate  of  your  own.  I  use  the  term  in  a  marine 

and  figurative  sense From  the  beginning 

of  your  letter,  I  infer  that  you  thought  my  last 
letter  found  some  fault  with  you  client-wise.  I 
cannot  recall  the  letter  enough  to  know  what  may 
have  given  rise  to  the  feeling,  but  I  assure  you 
nothing  was  further  from  the  truth.  And  nothing 
can  be  more  friendly  and  helpful  than  your  whole 
course  towards  me  has  been.  I  shall  never  cease  to 
hold  it  in  grateful  remembrance  until  you  offend 
me,  and  then  it  will  crisp  up  like  flax  in  the  flames, 
and  I  shall  bear  down  on  you  just  as  heavily  as  if 


98  A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

you  had  never  done  me  a  good  turn  in  your  life. 
Such,  alas  !  is  human  nature." 

M.  N.  TO    B.  &  H.,  SEPTEMBER  11. 

"  I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  8th  inst.,  de 
clining  arbitration. 

"  I  suppose,  therefore,  the  only  resource  left  me  is 
the  arbitration  of  public  opinion. 

"  The  argument  which  you  decline  to  admit  into 
the  case  was  introduced  there  by  Mr.  Hunt.  I 
recognize  with  you  its  disastrous  effects,  and  applaud 
your  prudence  in  excluding  it. 

"  Regarding  your  offer  to  sell  the  books  to  another 
publisher,  I  may  say  that  as  the  cream  of  their 
sale  is  already  gone,  I  do  not  see  the  brilliant  ad 
vantage  to  be  derived  from  taking  the  skim  milk  to 
another  publisher.  I  will,  however,  consult  my 
board  of  attorneys,  —  pray  do  not  suppose  I  limit 
mvself  to  one  — -  and  beg  you  meanwhile,  to  accept 
my  thanks  for  the  benefit  you  design  me. 

"  Will  you  have  the  goodness  to  send  me  my 
accounts  for  the  last  half-year." 

I  supposed  this  was  the  end  of  it,  but  was  sur 
prised  by  a  letter  of  September  14,  saying :  — 

'*  We  have  your  letter  of  the  llth  inst. 
"  We  think  no  occasion  for   arbitration  in  the 
matters  at  issue  between  us  need  ever  have  arisen. 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.  99 

And  we  think,  now,  that  a  formal  arbitration  —  as 
a  means  of  settling  the  existing  difficulties  —  would 
not  prove  a  suitable  or  satisfactory  method  either  to 
you  or  to  us.  We  wish,  however,  to  deal  with  you 
in  a  spirit  of  entire  fairness,  and  we  therefore  pro 
pose  another  method,  which  will  answer  the  same 
end  in  a  much  better  way.  Let  us  find  a  proper 
person,  whose  relations  to  both  parties  are  such  as 
to  fit  him  to  act  as  a  confidential  friend  and  adviser 
in  the  case.  Let  us  confide  the  entire  case,  in  all 
its  bearings,  to  his  intercession,  and  abide  by  his 
judgment.  We  have  in  mind  a  gentleman  who, 
as  we  believe,  would  be  in  every  way  suitable  and 
satisfactory  to  both,  —  Samuel  Rogers,  Esq.,  of  this 
city.  We  understand  Mr.  Rogers  to  be  a  warm 
friend  of  yours,  and  we  know  him  to  be  a  just  man, 
of  sound  judgment,  and  capable  of  taking  a  com 
prehensive  view  of  the  whole  matter. 

"  If  Mr.  Rogers  will  accept  the  friendly  office,  we 
are  quite  ready  to  meet  him  in  all  fairness  and  can 
dor,  and  to  open  our  books  and  accounts  to  his 
inspection." 

M.  N.  TO  B.  &  H.,  SEPTEMBER  16. 

"  Permit  me  to  acknowledge  the  reception  of 
your  letter  of  the  14th  inst. 

"  I  cannot,  at  present,  give  your  proposal  [I  be 
lieve  I  said  proposition,  but  proposal  must  be  the 


100      A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

right  word]  sufficient  consideration  to  rej>ly  to  it, 
but  I  will  do  so  as  soon  as  possible.  Meanwhile, 
may  I  ask  you  to  send  me  my  accounts  for  the  last 
six  months  ?  I  suppose  they  can  be  made  up  inde 
pendently  of  the  question  at  issue  between  us. 

"  I  most  emphatically  agree  with  you  in  the 
opinion  that  no  occasion  for  arbitration  need  ever 
have  arisen." 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  DANE,  SEPTEMBER  17. 

"  I  thought  I  had  pronounced  my  valedictory, 
but  coming  home  after  a  few  day's  absence,  I  find 
the  following  note  from  B.  &  H.  [then  follows  a 
copy  of  their  last  letter.] 

"  Now,  this  is  a  move  which  I  do  not  understand. 
Why  should  they  have  declined  so  decidedly  my 
proposal,  and  after  they  had  received  my  note,  why 
should  they  up  and  make  another  which,  for  aught 
I  see,  amounts  to  the  same  thing  ?  I  am  inclined 
to  accept  the  proposal,  though  I  don't  see  why  they 
should  not  have  accepted  mine.  Would  not  Mr. 
Rogers  be  a  good  man  ? 

"  Isn't  it  vexing  to  have  Monsieur  Tonson  come 
again?" 

MR.  DANE  TO  M.  N.,  SEPTEMBER  21. 

"  4  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way,'  etc.  B.  & 
H.'s  proposition  does  not  much  surprise  me,  though 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  101 

it  is  an  entire  change  of  base,  not  to  say  baseness. 
They  now  propose  exactly  what  I  wanted  at  first,  a 
reference  to  some  fair  man  ;  and  had  I  made  a  list 
of  a  half-dozen  for  them  to  choose  from,  Mr.  Rog 
ers  would  probably  have  been  one  of  them.  He  is 
quite  deaf,  but  transacts  business,  and  it  is  for  him 
to  say  whether  he  is  fit  to  hear  the  matter.  Of 
course  you  are  at  liberty  to  name  another  or  others. 
I  have  great  confidence  that  any  man  of  such 
a  character  will  do  what  he  thinks  is  just 

"  Now  let  me  say  this  is  getting  to  be  a  serious 
matter  ;  and  though  you  may  doubtless  look  on  it  as 
very  plain,  you  may  be  much  embarrassed  before 
you  are  through. 

"  I  do  not  see  how  you  can  decline  their  offer, 
which  is  precisely  your  own,  if  you  took  the  for 
mality  out  as  I  suggested.  I  doubt  now  whether  B. 
&  H.  will  not  find  some  way  to  avoid  a  hearing. 
I  think  you  had  better  accept  their  offer,  but  with 
limitations  that  shall  hold  them  somewhere.  In 
any  reference  of  this  sort,  it  will  be  understood  that 
you  may  have  counsel  and  witnesses,  unless  the 
idea  is  excluded  by  agreement 

"  You  see  I  bear  your  burdens  almost  instinc 
tively.  In  fact,  I  fear  to  trust  you  alone,  you  being, 
after  all,  but  a  poor  little  creeter,  bless  you." 


102  A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  DANE,  SEPTEMBER  23. 

"  Your  letter  did  me  heaps  of  good,  yesterday. 

"  Mr.  Robertson  promises  to  find  out  the  ways  of 

the  Corinthian  publishers,  and  write  or  tell  me 

What  I  want  to  do,  if  I  do  anything,  is  to  make 
out  a  written  statement,  as  you  suggest,  but  appear 
only  by  that  and  you.  I  don't  want  myself  to  go 
on  the  stage.  I  should  injure  the  case  more  than  I 
should  help  it.  Everything  that  is  not  in  writing, 
you  know  as  well  as  I,  and  I  think  it  would  be  far 
better  for  me  to  stay  at  home,  the  sweet,  safe  corner 
by  the  household  fire,  behind  the  heads  of  children, 

la !  In  every  other  suggestion  I  agree  with  you 

I  could  make  my  statement,  send  it  to  you  for  decis 
ion  and  presentation,  notify  them  of  my  acceptance 
and  readiness,  and  then  let  the  Union  slide. 

"  Did  I  tell  you  I  had  a  nice  note  from  Longinus  f 
....  He  says  he  wants  to  talk  with  me  about  this  — 
that  he  thinks  authors  ought  to  have  an  understand 
ing, —  that  generally  with  B.  &  H.  he  has  such  and 
such  arrangements ;  but  he  marks  that  whatever 
arrangement  you  make,  the  publisher  generally 
gets  the  lion's  share. 

"  Now  do  you  think  there  is  any  hurry  ?  If  not 
—  and  as  they  have  wandered  at  their  own  sweet 
will  hitherto,  I  think  I  might  take  my  turn  now ; 
do  you  think  it  will  be  worth  while  for  me  to  give 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  103 

up  my  visit  ?     Considering  the  uncertainty  of  man, 
I  should  say  not." 

MR.  DANE  TO  M.  N.,  SEPTEMBER  24. 

"  There  is  no  reason  why  you  should  hurry  about 
your  B.  &  H.  matter.  They  have  not  been  in  great 
haste  even  to  answer  your  'letters.  Wherefore, 
although  I  shall  be  glad  to  see  you  very  soon,  you 
may  take  your  own  time,  and  by  thinking,  perhaps, 
add  a  cubit  to  your  mental  stature. 

"  I  am  not  quite  sure  you  can  be  excused  from 
being  present.  You  can,  however,  fortify  or  fiftify 
yourself  with  Fritz  or  Fred. 

"  Now  write  down  your  claims  against  B.  &  H. 
like  a  lawyer." 

About  this  time,  the  Athenian  press  seemed  to 
have  been  seized  with  an  unwonted  interest  in  the 
book  trade,  and  began  to  break  out  in  sapient  and 
significant  little  paragraphs  like  the  following,  which 
I  copy  from  the  "  Athenian  Tribune,"  of  September 
30,1768:  — 

"  BOOK  PUBLISHING. — There  is  no  class  of  busi 
ness  so  liable  to  misconstruction  and  misunderstand 
ing,  as  that  of  a  publisher  of  books.  It  is  difficult  for 
an  author  to  understand  the  business  aspects  of 
publishing  a  book.  In  the  first  place,  the  expenses 


104  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

of  composition,  correcting,  stereotyping,  paper,  print 
ing  and-  binding,  are  very  large,  compared  some 
times  to  the  size  of  the  book.  Then  the  advertis 
ing  bills,  and  two  or  three  hundred  gratuitous  copies 
for  notice  and  review,  must  be  added  to  the  cost 
of  publication.  Then,  of  course,  store  rent,  clerk 
hire,  and  packing  expenses,  including  paper,  twine 
and  boxes,  should  be  reckoned  as  part  of  the  cost 
of  getting  up  an  edition  of  a  book ;  so  that,  in  most 
instances,  the  sale  of  two  or  three  thousand  of  a 
new  work  hardly  pays  the  publisher  for  the  labor 
and  capital  included  in  the  outlay.  Now  all  this 
the  author,  unless  he  or  she  happen  to  understand 
the  business  thoroughly,  rarely  comprehends.  The 
elder  John  Murray,  one  of  the  most  honorable  and 
generous  of  publishers,  used  to  say,  that  an  author 
who  thoroughly  understood  all  the  intricacies  and 
expenses  of  issuing  a  book  from  the  press,  and 
properly  launching  it  into  the  hands  of  the  public, 
was  as  rare  a  prize  to  find  as  a  phoenix  or  a  unicorn." 

Yes. 

When  I  came  to  reflect  upon  the  matter,  the 
proposal  of  B.  &  H.  did  not  seem  so  much  like  my 
own  as  it  at  first  appeared.  Partly,  perhaps,  I 
feared  the  Greeks  even  bearing  gifts.  And  if  the 
two  plans  were  in  substance  the  same,  why  did  they 
suggest  one  so  soon  after  rejecting  the  other  ?  If 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  105 

they  were  not  the  same,  the  difference  would  not  be 
likely  to  be  in  my  favor.  The  superficial  thinker 
might  suggest  that  the  person  to  judge  whether 
formal  arbitration  would  be  satisfactory  to  me  was 
myself.  As  I  had  proposed  it,  the  information 
from  Messrs.  B.  &  H.  that  it  would  not  be  satis 
factory  to  me,  seemed  to  be  premature,  not  to  say 
supererogatory.  But  they  not  only  set  aside  formal 
arbitration  and  brought  up  a  "  confidential  friendly  " 
plan  —  not  with  a  suggestion  that  it  might,  but  with 
the  succinct  assertion  that  it  would  answer  the  same 
end  in  a  much  better  way ;  they  also  chose  the  con 
fidential  friend  themselves  ;  and  this  friend  was  a 
gentleman  with  whom  I  had  no  acquaintance, 
whom  I  had  never  so  much  as  seen,  and  of  whom 
my  personal  knowledge  was  confined  to  the  inter 
change  of  some  half  dozen  letters.  Now  a  man 
may  have  a  very  high  reputation,  and  be  a  very 
superior  person,  yet  when  you  want  a  confidential 
friend,  you  would  hardly  take  him,  unless  you  had, 
at  least,  a  passing  acquaintance  with  him.  Per 
haps  Messrs.  B.  &  H.'s  endorsement  of  any  one  as 
a  "just  man,"  ought  to  be  enough;  though,  under 
the  circumstances,  it  reminds  one  of  the  convicts  in 
the  Maine  state  prison,  who  drew  up  resolutions 
against  capital  punishment,  —  but  regarding  the 
confidential  friendly  way  of  doing  business,  I  had 
become  thoroughly  disenchanted.  It  was  confiden- 


106     A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

tial  friendliness  that  made  the  trouble,  and  I  was 
not  homeopathically  inclined.  I  languished  for  a 
little  distrustful  business  accuracy,  and  cried,  "  Save 
me  from  my  friends,"  or  rather  from  Messrs.  B. 
&  H.'s  friends. 

What  philosopher  was  it  who  maintained  that  life 
and  death  are  the  same  ?  "  Why  do  you  not  then 
kill  yourself?  "  asked  a  skeptic.  "  Because  they 
are  the  same." 

If  it  was  of  no  importance  to  Messrs.  B.  &  H. 
whether  we  had  one  man  or  two,  I  would  have  two, 
since  it  was  of  no  importance. 

If  it  was  important  to  them  that  we  should  not 
have  two,  then  I  would  have  two,  because  it  was 
important. 

M.  N.  TO  B.  &  H.,  NEAR  THE  LAST  OF  OCTOBER. 

"  I  accept  your  proposal,  that  the  matter  at  issue 
between  us  should  be  submitted  to  Mr.  Samuel 
Rogers,  for  decision,  with  this  modification,  that 
Mr.  James  Russell,  of  Stanton,  be  associated  with 
him.  If  they  have  any  difficulty  in  coming  to  an 
agreement,  let  us  empower  them  to  select  a  third 
person. 

"  I  will  present  my  statement  at  any  time  that  suits 
your  and  their  convenience. 

"  Permit  me,  however,  to  suggest  that  it  is  just  as 
much  work  for  me  to  prepare  my  case  for  two  or 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  107 

three  persons  as  it  is  for  two  or  three  thousand ;  and, 
after  all,  nobody  can  know  it  better  than  you. 
You  know  precisely  what  I  want,  —  simply  ten  per 
cent.  And  you  know  also  on  what  grounds  I  base 
my  claims.  Would  it  not  be  less  troublesome  to 
you,  as  well  as  infinitely  less  disagreeable  to  me,  for 
you  to  decide  the  matter  yourselves  at  once,  rather 
than  refer  it  to  others,  who,  after  the  most  careful 
study,  can  only  learn  what  we  already  know  ?  We 
shall  also  thereby  avoid  a  publicity  which  is  utterly 
distasteful  to  me,  which  can  hardly  be  attractive  to 
you,  and  which,  beginning  with  two,  will  end,  no 
one  knows  where." 

HUNT,  PARRY,  &  CO.   (FORMERLY  B.  &  H.)  TO  M.  N., 
NOVEMBER    9. 

"  The  preoccupation  incident  to  the  recent 
change  in  our  firm  (of  which  we  sent  you  a  notice) 
has  prevented  our  giving  your  proposal  due  consid 
eration  earlier  than  now. 

"  We  proposed  Mr.  Samuel  Rogers'  name,  with 
the  thought  that  he  was  a  man  who  would  be  in 
every  way  satisfactory  to  both  parties,  and  who  could 
act  rather  in  the  capacity  of  a  friendly  mediator 
than  that  of  a  formal  arbitrator. 

"  Our  objection  to  the  addition  of  Mr.  James 
Russell,  is,  that  by  adding  him  we  return  to  the 
idea  of  settling  differences  by  a  formal  arbitrator, 


108  A   BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS. 

which  we  always  objected  to.  We  should  prefer 
to  submit  the  entire  matter  to  Mr.  Rogers  alone, 
as  we  proposed.  Still  we  are  desirous  to  have 
the  matter  settled  justly  and  equitably,  and  if 
you  prefer  to  have  more  than  one  person,  we 
are  willing  that  Mr.  Russell  (of  whom  we  know 
nothing,  except  by  reputation)  should  be  added, 
provided  a  third  person  shall  be  joined  with  the  two, 
who  shall  be  a  practical  publisher  and  bookseller. 
We  would  name  a  gentleman  who  would  be  per 
fectly  capable  of  appreciating  all  the  points  con 
nected  with  the  case,  and  to  whom,  in  conjunction 
with  the  two  already  named,  we  are  willing  to  sub 
mit  it,  —  Mr.  Henry  Murray,  formerly  a  partner  in 
the  publishing  firm  of  Constable  &  Sons,  and  now 
the  head  of  the  firm  of  Murray  &  Blakeman.  Mr. 
Murray  is  a  highly  honorable  man,  and  from  his 
many  years  of  experience,  fully  qualified  to  under 
stand  the  case. 

"  If  you  are  willing  to  submit  the  case  to  these 
three  gentlemen  for- decision,  we  shall  await  your 
and  their  pleasure  as  to  time." 

M.  N.  TO  H.,  P.,  &  CO.,  NOVEMBER  17. 

"  Your  letter  of  November  9  has  been  for 
warded  to  me  from  Athens.  Your  notice  of  the 
change  in  the  firm  was  probably  sent  to  Zoar  and 
has  not  reached  me.  I  did  not  know  of  the  change 
when  my  letter  was  written. 


A   BATTLE  OF  THE   BOOKS.  109 

"  In  proposing  Mr.  Russell  I  did  not  design  to 
return  to  formal  arbitration.  I  was,  and  am,  quite 
willing  to  settle  it  by  confidential  friendliness,  only 
I  do  not  wish  the  friendliness  to  be  all  on  one  side. 
Mr.  Rogers  is  your  friend,  but  I  never  saw  him  ; 
cannot  judge  of  his  fitness  to  act  in  such  a  matter, 
and  therefore  could  not  put  implicit  faith  in  his  con 
clusions.  I  wish  to  associate  with  him  a  man  whom 
I  do  know,  and  on  whose  conclusions  I  could  rely. 

"  You  say  you  know  nothing  of  Mr.  Russell  ex 
cept  by  reputation  ;  neither  do  I  know  anything  of 
Mr.  Rogers  except  by  reputation. 

"  You  desire  to  join  with  them  Mr.  Murray  of 
the  firm  of  Murray  &  Blakeman,  a  gentleman  whom 
you  know  so  well  that  you  vouch  for  his  character 
and  capacity,  but  whom  I  never  saw,  whom  I 
scarcely  know  even  by  reputation,  but  of  whom  I 
do  know  this :  Soon  after  the  publication  of  '  The 
Rights  of  Men,'  the  firm,  of  which  he  is  the  head, 
issued  an  advertisement  of  one  of  their  publications 
by  Rev.  Bishop  Burnet,  in  which,  by  detaching 
sentences  from  c  The  Rights  of  Men,'  they  made 
me  speak  in  the  highest  praise  of  Bishop  Burnet's 
book,  whereas,  in  truth,  I  had  spoken  with  the 
greatest  censure.  You  say  that  Mr.  Murray  is  a 
highly  honorable  man,  but  I  say  that  this  was  a 
highly  dishonorable  proceeding. 

"  Observe  now  the  position  you  take.     You  are 


110  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

not  even  willing  to  trust  to  my  friend,  joined  with 
your  friend,  but  you  want  me  to  trust  to  your  friend 
alone. 

"  Secondly,  you  are  not  willing  to  refer  to  the 
arbitrator,  a  lawyer,  whom  you  have  selected,  and 
the  arbitrator,  a  lawyer,  whom  I  have  selected,  and 
the  third  person  whom  they  two  shall  select,  but 
you  wish  yourself  to  select  the  third  person,  and 
the  person  you  select  is  a  man  of  your  own  trade,  a 
man  of  your  intimate  acquaintance,  a  man  whom  I 
never  saw,  and  of  whom  personally  I  only  know 
that  he  has  been  guilty  of  trickery  toward  me. 

"  If  it  is  to  be  settled  by  confidential  friendship, 
you  wish  to  choose  the  confidential  friend.  If  by 
formal  arbitration,  you  wish  to  choose  two  out  of 
three  of  the  arbitrators. 

"  You  consider  Mr.  Rogers  quite  capable  of  set 
tling  the  matter  alone,  but  incapable  of  settling  it  in 
connection  with  a  friend  of  mine,  unless  another 
friend  of  yours  be  joined  with  him. 

"  I  am  quite  willing  to  meet  you  on  the  confiden 
tial  friendly  platform,  or  on  the  formal  arbitration 
platform  ;  but  if  the  former,  which  I  also  prefer,  I 
wish  to  have  a  share  in  the  confidential  friendship. 
If  the  second,  I  wish  the  arbitrators  to  be  selected 
in  the  regular  way,  each  party  choosing  one,  and 
those  two  selected  choosing  a  third. 

"  You  can  ascertain  from  Mr.  Rogers  whether 


A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  Ill 

he  has  any  objection  to  confidential  consultation 
with  Mr.  Russell.  So  far  as  a  practical  publisher 
or  bookseller  is  concerned  you  can  state  the  case 
yourselves  to  these  gentlemen,  —  or  you  can  bring 
Mr.  Murray  or  any  other  person  you  choose  before 
them.  We  must  assume  that  they  are  sufficiently 
fair-minded  to  judge  according  to  facts,  else  there 
is  no  use  in  having  any  judgment  at  all,  and  Mr. 
Murray  can  present  the  facts  as  witness  quite  as 
well  as  if  he  were  arbitrator." 

H.,  P.,  &  CO.  TO  M.  N.,  NOVEMBER  20. 

"  The  desire  which  you  impute  to  us  of  having 
a  one-sided  settlement,  or  of  referring  the  matter 
at  issue  between  us  to  any  "  confidential  friend  " 
of  our  own  has  never  entered  our  thoughts.  We 
named  Mr.  Rogers  in  the  first  instance  because  we 
thought  he  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  your 
own,  and  one  in  whom  you  could  put  unhesitating 
confidence.  We  never  had  a  word  with  him  on 
the  subject  in  any  way.  As  for  Mr.  Murray,  we 
certainly  have  no  desire  to  press  him,  or  any  other 
person  not  agreeable  to  you. 

"  We  very  decidedly  prefer  that  one  person  shall 
take  cognizance  of  the  matter  rather  than  two  or 
three  ;  and  to  show  that  we  do  not  desire  that  the 
person  chosen  shall  be  a  partisan  of  our  own,  we 
suggest  that  the  matter  be  submitted  to  the  friendly 


112  A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

offices  of  Mr.  Henry  Brook,  of  Corinth.  We  do  not 
know  Mr.  Brook  personally,  and  have  never  had 
any  relations  with  him  except  a  correspondence 
which  he  initiated  several  days  ago.  If  he  is 
willing  to  act  in  the  matter  we  will  accept  any 
decision  he  makes." 

M.  N.  TO  H.,  P.,  &  CO.,  NOVEMBER  23. 

"  Your  letter  of  November  20  reached  me  Sat 
urday  night.  So  far  as  it  disclaims  any  undue 
partisanship  in  selecting  Mr.  Rogers,  it  is  germane 
to  the  case.  I  take  the  earliest  opportunity  to  thank 
you  for  the  disinterested  kindness  to  me  which 
governed  your  choice.  I  was  not  before  aware  of 
it,  or  I  should  have  been  earlier  in  my  acknowl 
edgment. 

"  The  remainder  of  your  letter,  you  will  pardon 
me  for  saying,  is  entirely  irrelevant.  The  question 
of  one  or  two  is  no  longer  open.  We  have  already 
agreed  upon  two,  and  the  question  now  is  concern 
ing  a  third.  The  point  to  be  decided  is  simply 
this  :  Will  you  or  will  you  not  refer  the  matter  to 
the  friendly  mediation  or  the  formal  arbitration  of 
Messrs.  Rogers  and  Russell  and  a  third  person  to 
be  selected  by  them  in  case  a  third  person  shall  be 
necessary  ?  " 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  113 

H.^  P.,  &  CO.  TO  M.  N.,  NOVEMBER  28. 

"  Your  statement,  that  '  the  question  of  one  or 
two  persons  is  no  longer  open,  and  that  two  have 
already  been  agreed  upon,  and  the  question  now  is 
concerning  a  third,'  is  not  correct.  We  have  not 
agreed  to  refer  the  matter  to  Messrs.  Rogers  and 

C5  tD 

Russell  except  with  our  proposed  addition  of  Mr. 
Murray,  which  addition  you  did  not  approve.  By 
your  non-approval  of  him  the  matter  was  thrown 
back  to  the  original  proposal  to  refer  it  to  one  per 
son,  and  in  that  posture  of  affairs  we  must  consider 
that  our  proposal  of  Mr.  Brook  as  that  person  was 
strictly  relevant. 

"  But  in  all  this  correspondence  we  seem  to  be 
playing  at  cross-purposes,  neither  arriving  at  a  re 
sult  nor  succeeding  in  understanding  each  other. 
You  are  no  doubt  as  tired  of  this  as  we  are.  A 
reference  —  should  we  ever  reach  it  on  mutually 
satisfactory  terms  —  would  take  a  long  time  and  be 
a  tedious  mode  of  settlement.  Would  it  not  be 
better  to  close  the  matter  at  issue  finally  by  a  defi 
nite  proposal  which  cannot  be  misunderstood.  We 
estimate  the  time  that  would  be  occupied  by  a  refer 
ence,  and  the  trouble  and  annoyance  it  would  occa 
sion,  at  five  hundred  dollars,  and  we  propose  to  send 
you  our  check  for  that  sum  that  this  unprofitable 
controversy  may  be  closed.  And  we  further  pro- 


114  A  BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS. 

pose  to  pay  you  hereafter  ten  per  cent,  of  the 
retail  price,  in  cloth,  for  all  copies  sold  of  your  va 
rious  books  now  published  by  us.  Should  you  accept 
this  offer,  please  advise  us  and  we  will  send  you 
check  and  draw  new  contracts  at  once." 

I  think,  notwithstanding  the  modest  disclaimer 
of  Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.,  we  were  getting  to 
understand  each  other  perfectly,  except  that  so  far 
from  becoming  tired  of  the  controversy,  /was  only 
just  warming  up  to  it. 

M.  N.  TO  H.,  P.,  &  CO.,  DECEMBER  8. 

"  When  I  pointed  out  to  you  the  impropriety  of 
your  imposing  Mr.  Murray  upon  me  as  arbitrator, 
you  replied  that  you  did  not  wish  to  press  Mr.  Mur 
ray.  You  now  say  that  Mr.  Murray  was  essential 
to  the  arbitration.  Either  he  was  or  he  was  not. 
If  he  was,  then,  as  I  said  in  a  previous  letter,  you 
refused  arbitration  unless  you  could  choose  two  out 
of  three  of  the  arbitrators,  and  those  two  friends  of 
your  own  and  strangers  to  me,  and  one  of  them 
guilty  of  trickery  towards  me.  If  Mr.  Murray  was 
not  essential,  then,  as  I  said  in  my  last  letter,  we 
had  already  agreed  upon  two,  and  the  only  question 
is,  concerning  a  third.  Do  I  understand  you  to 
decide  that  you  refuse  arbitration  unless  you  have 
power  to  make  Mr.  Murray  third  arbitrator  ? 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  115 

"  The  reference  which  seems  to  you  so  tedious, 
seems  to  me  a  relief  from  tedium.  Your  definite 
proposal  proposes  to  buy  me  off  from  arbitration, 
but  does  not  touch  my  claim  to  ten  per  cent,  on  past 
sales.  I  do  not  even  consider  it,  much  less  accept  it. 

"  The  cost  of  arbitration  would,  I  suppose,  be 
defrayed  as  usual  by  the  losing  party,  and  amounts 
to  hardly  if  any  more  than  one-sixth  part  of  the 
sum  which  I  believe  to  be  due  me." 

M.  N.  TO  H.,  P.,  &  CO.,  DECEMBER  21. 

"  A  week  ago,  last  Tuesday,  I  sent  you  a  letter 
from  Paris,  to  which  I  have  received  no  answer. 
To  guard  against  any  misunderstanding  arising 
from  a  lost  letter,  will  you  be  so  good  as  to  inform 
me  by  the  bearer  whether  you  have  received  such 
a  letter  from  me,  and  if  so,  whether  you  have  re 
plied  to  it." 

They  evidently  thought  the  enemy  was  preparing 
to  move  immediately  upon  their  works,  and  they 
replied  at  once,  — 

"  We  duly  received  your  communication  alluded 
to  in  your  note  of  this  morning. 

"  Owing  to  the  absence  of  one  of  the  members  of 
our  firm  and  the  great  pressure  of  business  incident 
to  the  season  of  the  year,  we  have  not  had  an  op- 


116  A    BATTLE    OF   THE   BOOKS. 

portunity  since  its  receipt  to  give  the  question  at 
issue  the  attention  it  deserves.  In  a  very  few  clays 
you  shall  hear  from  us." 

On  the  sixteenth  of  December,  appeared  another 
of  those  paragraphs  in  the  "  Athenian  Gazette,"  to 
which  I  have  previously  referred.  Hitherto  the 
dove  had  only  gyrated  around  the  whole  heavens, 
spreading  its  white  wings  of  praise  over  publishers 
in  general,  but  now,  loving,  like  Death,  a  shining 
mark,  it  circled  down  and  settled  squarely  upon  the 
modest  brows  of  Messrs.  Brummell  &  Hunt,  in  the 
following  style :  — 

"  MESSRS.  B.  &  H.'s  ANNOUNCEMENTS.  —  The 
attractive  advertisement  of  Messrs.  B.  &  H.,  which 
appears  in  our  columns  to-day,  is  interesting  to  those 
who  watch  the  progress  of  events,  as  an  indication 
not  only  of  the  success  which  this  publishing  house 
has  achieved,  but  as  an  evidence  of  the  literary 
supremacy  of  the  '  hub.'  Years  ago,  when  Soph 
ocles,  after  enjoying  the  entree  into  the  leading 
social  circles  of  the  city,  styled  Athens  4  The 
Modern  Eden,'  our  neighbors  of  the  other  cities 
quoted  the  remark  in  derision.  But  time  has 
proved  that  the  title  was  not  merely  complimentary. 
A  glance  at  the  list  of  authors  whose  works  are 
published  by  Messrs.  B.  &  H.,  will  at  once  surprise 


A  BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS.  117 

those  unacquainted  with  the  large  number  of  the 
Adriatic  coterie  who  have  residence  within  the 
shadow  of  the  Acropolis.  The  Athenian  authors 
who  have  their  established  headquarters  with  this 
publishing  house  are  more  widely  known  and  more 
thoroughly  read  than  any  equal  number  who  have 
acquired  literary  distinction,  while  the  number  of 
Roman  authors  who  are  represented  in  this  country 
by  Messrs.  B.  &  H.  include  the  Poet  Laureate  of 
Italy  and  the  great  master  of  fiction,  Josephus. 

"  While  we  may  congratulate  the  firm  upon  the 
success  they  have  achieved  in  producing  the  most 
exquisite  illustrated  gift  books  of  the  season,  and 
compliment  them  upon  the  typographical  execution 
of  all  their  publications,  we  think  still  higher  praise 
is  due  to  this  house  for  their  encouragement  of 
Athenian  talent,  and  their  rare  tact  in  introducing 
many  who  have  become  popular  mainly  by  the 
discriminating  manner  in  which  they  have  been 
ushered  into  the  presence  of  the  reading  public. 
Whatever  share  of  prosperity  this  publishing  house 
has  reached,  there  are  none  to  attribute  it  to  any 
narrow  or  selfish  policy.  They  have  dealt  with 
authors  of  all  lands  upon  the  broad  ground  of 
mutual  benefit,  and  have  never  sought  to  make 
bread  out  of  other  people's  brainwork  and  leave  the 
worker  without  fair  compensation.  It  is  a  credit 
to  Athens  that  such  an  establishment  has  grown  up 
and  flourished  in  our  city." 


118  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

Which  reminds  me  of  a  rural  schoolmaster  who 
taught  the  village  school  for  several  winters  in  suc 
cession,  and  whose  specialty  was  writing.  Years 
after,  if  the  handwriting  of  any  of  his  pupils  was 
spoken  of,  the  honest  man  would  reply  innocently, 
"  Yes,  he  is  a  very  fine  writer,  very  superior.  His 
writing  is  precisely  like  mine  !  " 

Messrs.  Brummel  &  Hunt's  authors  are  the 
most  widely  known  and  the  most  thoroughly  read 
in  the  country. 

And  we  who  belong  to  that  Happy  Family  feel 
that  the  lines  have  fallen  to  us  in  pleasant  places, 
and  try  to  look  unconscious  of  our  preeminence, 
while  we  cannot  wholly  repress  a  glow  of  gratifica 
tion. 

But  what  is  this  ?  We,  or  rather  you,  —  for  just 
here  I  find  it  agreeable  to  follow  the  admonition  of 
Mr.  Guppy's  mother,  and  uget  out "  of  the  company 
-—  you  have  become  popular  mainly  by  the  discrim 
inating  manner  in  which  you  have  been  ushered 
into  the  presence  of  the  reading  public !  O,  what  a 
fall  is  here,  my  countrymen  !  Imagine  the  emotions 
of  the  belle  on  being  told  that  the  attention  and 
admiration  which  she  fondly  supposed  had  been  ex 
cited  by  her  wit  and  beauty,  were  mainly  owing  to 
the  discriminating  manner  in  which  she  had  been 
ushered  into  the  ball-room ! 

Some  little  margin  is  left  for  grace  of  form,  love- 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  119 

liness  of  feature,  elegance  of  dress,  but  mainly  it 
is  the  white-gloved  usher  to  whom  her  success  is 
due ! 

There  are  never  wanting  persons  who,  not  con 
tent  with  writing  history  as  it  is,  are  always  conjur 
ing  up  what  would  have  been  if  things  had  hap 
pened  differently.  If  Charles  I.  had  not  lost  his 
head,  if  Napoleon  had  beaten  at  Waterloo,  if  Booth's 
pistol  had  missed  fire,  events  would  have  gone  thus 
and  thus.  A  fruitful  field  opens  before  such  specu 
lators  in  the  history  of  our  country's  literature. 
Had  Messrs.  Brurmnell  &  Hunt  gone  into  the 
grocery  business,  for  instance,  Homer  would  have 
been  cobbling  shoes  in  Haverhill,  or  at  most,  chron 
icling  small  beer  in  a  country  newspaper.  Dante 
would  have  been  a  lawyer  in  chambers,  drawing  up 
wills  and  plodding  through  deeds,  but  leaving  no 
foot-prints  on  the  sands  of  time.  Boccaccio  would 
have  been  milking  cows  at  Brook  Farm,  or  growing 
round  shouldered  over  his  desk  in  the  Jerusalem 
Court  House.  Miriam  would  have  been  writing 

o 

children's  stories  for  the  "  Little  Cormorant,"  at  fifty 
cents  a  column,  and  as  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  would 
never  have  been  built,  the  South  would  never  have 
been  provoked  into  rebellion ;  we  should  have  had 
no  war  and  no  greenbacks,  prices  would  never  have 
risen,  ten  per  cent,  and  fifteen  cents  would  have 
been  the  same,  and  we  should  all  have  died  comfort 
ably  in  our  beds. 


120  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

But  it  is  a  theme  for  lasting  gratitude  not  only 
that  this  house  did  not  go  into  the  "  cotton  trade  and 
sugar  line,"  but  also  that  whatever  share  of  prosper 
ity  it  has  reached,  there  are  none  to  attribute  it  to 
any  narrow  or  selfish  policy.     It  has  never  sought 
to  make  bread  out  of  other  people's  brain-work  and 
leave  the  worker  without  fair  compensation.     But 
upon  what  meat  hath  this  our  "  Athens  Gazette  " 
fed,  that  it  is  able  to  make  so  sweeping  a  negative, 
asks  the  unsanctified    heart.     By  what   authority 
saith  it  these  things,  and  who  gave  it  this  authority  ? 
Has  it  had  personal  interviews   with   all  the  per 
sons  who  ever  had  or  sought  business  connections 
with  Messrs.  Brummel  &  Hunt,  and  learned  from 
them  that   no    narrow  or  selfish   policy  has    ever 
been  attributed  to   them?      Even  this  would  not 
establish  its  assertion,  but  surely  nothing  less  than 
this  would.     It  does  not  say  that  no  narrow  or  sel 
fish  policy  was  ever  indulged  in,  but  that  nobody  so 
much    as    attributed  it  to  them.      Caesar's  wife  is 
above  suspicion.     But  has  any  one  asked  Caesar  ? 

It  is  not,  of  course,  to  be  for  a  moment  supposed 
that  so  great  a  house  as  the  one  in  question  would 
ever  stoop  to  manufacture  its  own  "  puffs,"  if  I  may 
be  pardoned  the  term.  Such  a  course  might  befit 
the  "parvenu  hawkers  and  peddlers  "  of  books,  but 
not  an  hereditary  aristocracy  like  this.  Its  "  Poet- 
Publisher  "  has  indeed  distinguished  himself  by 
other  figures  than  those  of  the  day-book  and  ledger, 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  121 

but  I  have  never  heard  that  any  member  of  the  firm 
has  been  ambitious  of  a  place  among  the  prose  writ 
ers  of  Greece.  Nor  is  it  I  suspecfc  any  the  more 
to  be  presumed  because  these  paragraphs  came  to 
me  conspicuously  marked  with  blue  and  red  lines, 
and  superscribed  in  the  handwriting  with  which 
many  years  of  correspondence  with  the  firm  of  B.  & 
H.  had  made  me  familiar.  For  do  we  not  all,  as 
soon  as  we  see  ourselves  complimented  in  the 
newspaper,  send  it  around  to  all  our  friends  by 
the  early  mail?  But  I  am  reminded  of  a  story 
which  I  learned  and  recited  many  times  in  school. 
While  the  regicides  Goffe,  Whalley,  and  Maxwell 
were  hiding  in  Connecticut,  a  rough  fellow  came 
from  afar  and  terrified  the  simple  villagers  by  chal 
lenging  them  to  mortal  combat.  As  they  stood 
pale  with  consternation,  a  venerable  man,  unknown 
to  all,  appeared,  gravely  accepted  the  challenge,  and 
immediately  disappeared.  At  the  appointed  time 
throngs  were  gathered  to  witness  the  conflict.  As 
the  clock  struck  the  hour,  the  mysterious  combat 
ant  threaded  the  crowd  and  took  his  place  in  the 
arena  armed  only  with  a  broom,  and  armored  with 
a  huge  cheese  fastened  upon  his  person  as  a  breast 
plate.  The  astonished  bully  began  the  fight  by 
plunging  his  sword  into  the  breast,  or  rather  the 
cheese,  of  his  opponent.  The  latter  responded  by 
dipping  his  broom  into  the  neighboring  mud-puddle 


122  A   BATTLE    OF  THE   BOOKS. 

and  giving  the  bully  a  gentle  swash  about  the  neck. 
A  second  lunge  into  the  cheese^  and  the  broom 
went  higher,  sweeping  the  fighter's  chin.  A  third, 
and  with  a  fresh  baptism  of  mud  the  broorn  was 
drawn  tenderly  over  the  whole  face  of  the  baffled 
ruffian,  who,  unused  to  such  warfare,  threw  down 
his  sword  in  terror,  crying,  "  Who  are  you  ?  You 
must  be  either  Goffe,  Whalley,  or  the  Devil !  " 

Moral :  So  I,  viewing  this  paragraph  and  sundry 
others  that  follow  it,  and  seeing  how  finely  they  are 
timed  to  the  issues  of  the  contest,  cannot  avoid 
the  mental  soliloquy,  "  Brummell  &  Hunt,  or  — 
Planchette !  " 

J.  S.  PARRY,  OF  THE  FIRM  OF  H.,  P.,  &  CO.,  TO  M.  N., 
JANUARY  1,  1769. 

"  The  experience  of  the  past  few  months  suggests 
that  it  is  likely  to  take  some  time  to  settle  the  details 
of  the  proposed  arbitration  by  correspondence.  A 
personal  interview  of  half  an  hour  would  obviate 
much  writing  and  delay.  Will  you  see  me  at 
Zoar  at  such  time  next  week  (after  Tuesday)  as 
may  be  convenient  to  yourself? 

M.    N.    TO    MR.    PARRY. 

"  If  you  really  think  it  worth  while,  by  all  means 
come  ;  only  the  preliminaries  seem  to  me  so  simple 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.     123 

that  they  might  almost  be  left  to  whistle  them 
selves.  I  will  see  you,  if  you  please,  at  two  o'clock, 
p.  M.,  Wednesday,  the  sixth,  — day  after  to-morrow. 
A  train  leaves  the  Athens  Railroad  Station,  I  think, 
at  12.15.  You  must  leave  the  train  at  Zoar.  Prob 
ably  there  will  be  a  carriage  at  the  station  if  you 
prefer  it  to  walking,  but  whichever  way  you  come 
you  will  wish  you  had  taken  the  other. 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  DANE,  JANUARY  4,  1769. 

"  Saturday  I  had  a  letter  from  Mr.  Parry,  pro 
posing  to  come  down  and  arrange  with  me  the  pre 
liminaries  for  (or  of)  arbitration.  I  would  much 
rather  he  should  go  to  you  and  do  it.  Still,  I  fear 
if  I  suggest  that,  it  will  only  occasion  further  delay, 
and  if  I  can  get  any  hold  on  them,  perhaps  I  had 
better  get  it.  But  I  don't  know  what  the  prelimi 
naries  ought  to  be.  Maybe  it  is  nothing  in  particu 
lar,  only  arrangements  as  to  time,  and  so  forth. 
Still,  if  there  is  anything  I  should  stipulate  for,  or 
any  boundary  lines  I  ought  to  draw,  or  any  precau 
tions  I  ought  to  take,  can  you  not  advise  me  by  let 
ter  ?  If  there  is  any  doubt  on  my  part,  I  shall  make 
no  engagements,  but  say  to  him  frankly,  I  wish  to 
consult  you  first,  and  then  I  shall  come  to  Athens 
bright  and  early,  Thursday,  and  consult  you  nolens 
volens" 


124  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

MR.  DANE  TO  M.  N.,  JANUARY  5,  1769. 

"  A  happy  New  Year  to  you.  My  opinion  is  that 
Mr.  Parry  will  try  to  settle  matters  with  you,  and 
have  no  reference  or  intervention.  If  he  proposes 
to  arrange  a  reference,  you  know  what  you  want 
an  4  can  write  it,  perhaps,  though  my  honest  opinion 
is  you  need  help.  You  may  call  it  snubbing,  or  sneer 
ing,  or  flattery,  but  my  opinion  is  you  are  not  fit  to 
meet  these  people  in  such  a  matter. 

"  Hunt  fooled  you  just  as  he  pleased  when  he 
went  over,  and  you  wrote  me  quite  a  penitent  let 
ter,  which  showed  a  good  heart,  but  a  feeble  mind  I 
If  you  arrange  for  any  reference,  they  should  agree 
to  pay  you  any  amount  that  may  be  adjudged  to  be 
equitably  due  to  you  for  arrearages  of  copyright. 

"You  are  [&c.]  But  as  I  have  told  you,  there 
is  not  a  lawyer  in  Athens  who  would  undertake 
personally  to  manage  a  controversy  of  this  kind, 
being  himself  the  party,  and  you  are  not  exempt 
from  the  laws  of  gravitation."  .... 


VIII. 

ARRANGEMENT  OF  PRELIMINARIES. 

T  the  appointed  time,  Mr.  Parry  presented 
himself.  But  instead  of  proceeding,  at 
once,  to  settling  the  preliminaries  of  the 
proposed  arbitration,  he  wished  to  discuss  the  ques 
tion  at  issue  to  see  if  we  could  not  settle  it  be 
tween  ourselves.  I  unhesitatingly  declined,  as  I 
had  from  the  beginning  declined  to  do  so.  He  said 
he  had  brought  with  him  the  papers  and  figures  to 
show  exactly  how  we  stood.  I  declined  to  look  at 
them,  telling  him  that  I  was  entirely  incompetent 
to  make  a  satisfactory  examination  of  such  a  point, 
being  unsound  even  on  the  multiplication-table.  He 
asked  if  I  would  not  be  satisfied,  supposing  they 
could  clearly  prove  that  I  had  made  more  money  out 
of  the  books  than  they  had.  I  said  not  at  all,  that  I 
had  arrived  at  that  point  where  I  did  not,  in  the  least, 
care  how  much  the  publishers  made  ;  that  if  other 
authors  had  ten  per  cent.,  I  wanted  ten  per  cent., 
even  if  the  publishers  had  to  beg  their  bread  from 
door  to  door.  He  seemed  a  little  nonplused  at 
such  heartlessness ;  said  he  had  come  prepared  to 


126  A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

show  that  they  had  made  only  about  seven  tenths 
as  much  as  I,  and  he  had  supposed  that  would  sat 
isfy  me.  As  I  affirmed  it  would  not,  he  was  some 
what  at  a  loss  how  to  proceed.  I  told  him  that  in 
the  beginning,  that  —  and  a  great  deal  less,  indeed 
—  would  have  satisfied  me,  but  that  affairs  had 
gone  on  so  long,  and  feeling  been  so  much  aroused, 
that  no  sort  of  explanation  would  satisfy  me  ;  that  I 
wished  the  matter  to  go  entirely  away  from  our 
selves  into  the  hands  of  unprejudiced  and  uninter 
ested  persons. 

[After  several  months  of  profound  reflection,  I 
will  here  interpolate  a  remark  which  future  com 
mentators  will  please  to  remember  does  not  belong 
to  the  original  text,  namely :  that  I  do  not  see  why 
the  publisher's  profits  need  be  considered  as  the  ulti 
ma  Thule  of  an  author's.  Is  it  the  phantom  of  a  dis 
torted  imagination  that  the  author  has  a  far  larger 
property  in  the  book  than  the  publisher  ?  Does 
it  not  cost  him  infinitely  more  than  it  costs  the  pub 
lisher  ?  And  even  leaving  the  infinite,  and  coming 
down  to  finite  matters,  are  not  the  fields  which  the 
publisher  reaps  so  much  broader  than  the  author's 
one  little  close,  that  a  far  smaller  share  in  the 
gleanings  would  give  the  publisher  a  far  more  heap 
ing  granary.  An  author,  we  will  say,  publishes 
one  book  in  a  year.  His  profits  are  a  thousand 
dollars.  But  the  publisher  publishes  twenty  books 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.  127 

a  year,  on  which,  in  the  same  ratio,  he  gets  twenty 
thousand  dollars.  Suppose  five  hundred  dollars 
were  taken  from  the  publisher's  profits  and  added 
to  the  author's.  The  publisher  would  still  have  an 
income  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  while  the  author 
would  have  one  of  only  fifteen  hundred.] 

Mr.  Parry  then  suggested  leaving  it  to  Mr.  Stan 
hope,  one  of  my  friends,  a  suggestion  which  I  did 
not  adopt.  He  asked  me  if  I  still  continued  to 
prefer  that  it  should  be  left  to  more  than  one  per 
son,  and  I  left  him  no  doubt  on  that  point.  He 
then  suggested  that  we  should  give  up  the  two 
we  had  chosen,  and  select  entirely  new  ones.  I 
assured  him  that  I  was  not  in  the  least  dissatisfied 
with  their  choice  or  my  own,  and  I  would  prefer  to 
make  no  change.  He  suggested  that  Mr.  Rogers 
was  very  hard  of  hearing,  and  might  not  be  able  to 
act  on  that  account.  I  asked  if  he  was  materially 
harder  of  hearing  now  than  when  they  selected  him 
to  settle  the  case  alone.  Mr.  Parry  did  not  know 
that  he  was,  and  finally  consented  to  go  on  as  we 
had  begun.  This,  in  the  telling,  does  not  sound 
quite  straightforward,  yet  Mr.  Parry  seemed  so 
frank  and  fair  that  I  was  more  than  half  convinced, 
in  spite  of  all  other  appearances,  that  they  meant 
no  wrong.  At  least  I  did  not  see  how  any  one 
could  be  conscious  of  wrong,  and  yet  seem  so  honest 
as  he  seemed.  He  was  certainly  entirely  courteous, 


128      A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

though,  perhaps,  it  is  not  parliamentary  to  put  that 
in.  One  tenth  part  of  his  fairness  in  the  bediming 

1  O  O 

would  have  set  my  doubts  completely  at  rest.  He 
said  —  but  tenderly  enough,  as  if  he  loved  me  a  la 
Isaak  Walton  —  that  they  lost  money  on  "  Holi 
days,"  and  that  the  books  have  not  been  selling  very 
well  for  two  years  past.  For  all  which  I  am  very 
sorry.  Still  I  remember  that  Mr.  Hunt  was  always 
urgent  for  me  to  make  books.  The  last  two  books 
were  published  in  book  form  at  his  suggestion.  My 
first  notion  was  to  publish  them  as  magazine  articles. 
The  same  was  the  case  with  "  Old  Miasmas."  They 
grew  into  books,  and  I  have  just  found  an  old  letter 
in  which  Mr.  Hunt  says,  "  Come  out  with  a  bang. 
The  book  's  the  thing  in  which  you  will  catch  the 
conscience  of  the  public."  And  again,  "  A  vol 
ume  by  all  means."  Nothing  could  be  more  en 
couraging,  and  stimulating,  and  agreeable  than  his 
tone  and  bearing.  I  recollect  his  saying  to  me, 
when  we  were  discussing  the  last  book,  "  You 
ought  to  write  only  books."  In  a  letter  of  October 
23,  1767,  he  says,  "  I  think  you  are  quite  right 
not  to  print  your  Burnet  article  at  present,  and  I 
hope  your  thoughts  will  grow  into  a  volume  to  be 
issuod  by  B.  &  H.,  in  the  spring."  In  a  letter 
of  December  11,  1765,  he  says,  "  Your  sermon 
is  good,  but  I  hope  you  will  not  print  it  till  you 
put  it  into  a  volume.  Ask  Brother  S.,  your  neigh- 


A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  129 

bor,  if  I  am  not  right.  If  you  were  here,  I  could 
tell  you  a  thousand  reasons  why  your  interest  would 
not  be  served  in  the  printing  of  this  paper  in  a  news 
paper  or  magazine,  nor  the  interest  of  the  reading 
world,  either.  I  speak  as  a  fool,  no  doubt,  but  in 
your  service. 

"  I  hope  you  will  give  all  your  energy  and  time  to 
'  Winter  Work.'  A  new  book  from  your  pen  in  the 
spring  will  help  the  old  ones,  and  is  already  asked 
for  by  our  booksellers  in  the  West  and  elsewhere." 

In  short,  as  I  look  back,  it  seems  to  me  that  Mr. 
Hunt's  influence  —  always  pleasantly  and  heartily 
exerted  —  was  towards  the  production  and  not  the 
repression  of  books.  I  deeply  regret  that  they  have 
not  enriched  him  to  the  extent  of  his  desires  and 
deserts,  and  I  should  regret  it  still  more  deeply  had 
I  urged  the  publications  upon  him  as  warmly  as  he 
urged  them  upon  me. 

Although  the  firm  lost  money  on  "  Holidays," 
this  paper  shows  that  they  were  ready  to  accept 
another  juvenile  book  as  soon  as  I  told  them  of  its 
existence.  I  suppose  there  is  some  occult  reason 
for  it,  known  only  to  publishers ;  but  the  carnal 
mind  would  naturally  infer  that  having  lost  money 
on  one,  they  would  be  shy  of  a  second  venture. 

Mr.  Parry  repeated  Mr.  Hunt's  assertion,  that 
he  replied  with  his  own  hand  to  my  first  letter  of 
inquiry.  Mr.  Hunt,  in  speaking  of  it  to  me,  could 


130  A   BATTLE    OF    THE   BOOKS. 

not  recall  the  exact  time  of  his  writing  it,  but  Mr. 
Parry  said  that  Mr.  Hunt  told  him  that  morning, 
that  it  was  written  directly  after  the  reception  of 
my  letter.  But  in  a  letter  written  two  or  three 
weeks  after  mine  was  sent,  Mr.  Hunt  says  by  his 
amanuensis,  "  I  have  not  answered  your  last  letter 
touching  the  terms  expressed  in  the  contracts.'*  Mr. 
Hunt  apparently  labors  under  the  curious  psycho 
logical  infelicity  of  rememberinc*  the  letters  he 

e>  «/  o 

does  not  write,  and  forgetting  the  letters  he  does 
write. 

After  Mr.  Parry  had  told  me  that  my  books 
had  not  been  selling  well  for  a  year  or  two,  and 
that  they  had  lost  money  on  them,  I  hunted  up  old 
letters  of  Mr.  Hunt's  to  see  if  they  would  not 
show  that  he  had  urged  me  to  write  in  the  form  of 

o 

books.  In  doing  so  I  found  a  letter  dated  Septem 
ber  23, 1764,  from  which  I  make  the  following  ex 
tract  :  "  The  contract  has  been  delayed  for  a  suffi 
cient  cause."  (He  then  gives  as  a  reason  Mr.  Brum- 
mell's  absence.)  "  The  percentage  will  read  fif 
teen  cents  per  copy,  as  the  business  times  are  fluc 
tuating  the  prices  of  manufacture  so  there  is  no 
telling  to-morrow  or  for  a  new  edition  what  may 
be  the  expenses  of  publication,  so  we  reckon  your 
percentage  in  every  and  any  event  as  fixed  at  fif 
teen  cents  per  volume  on  all  your  works.  If  it 
should  cost  81.50  to  make  the  volumes  you  are  sure 


A   BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS.  131 

of  your  author  profit  of  fifteen  cents.  The  price 
at  retail  may  be  $1.50,  $2.00,  or  $3.00,  as  the  high 
or  low  rates  of  paper,  binding,  etc.,  may  be,  but 
you  are  all  right.  This  arrangement  we  make  now 
with  all  our  authors." 

If  I  had  discovered  this  letter  sooner  it  would 
have  simplified  matters  greatly ;  but  I  did  not  find 
it  till  this  statement  had  been,  as  I  supposed,  fin 
ished.  I  therefore  thought  best  to  put  it  in  here, 
in  a  sort  of  chronological  order.  What  I  had  pre 
viously  said  touching  its  substance,  I  said  from 
memory  solely.  I  could  not  even  have  declared 
whether  its  assertions  had  been  made  by  pen  or  lips. 
But  I  think  it  not  only  fully  bears  out  all  that  I 
have  alleged,  but  shows  more  than  my  memory  had 
retained  or  my  perception  divined.  The  letter  be 
fore  its  close  says,  "  As  I  write  the  contracts  are 
reported  ready,  so  I  enclose  them.  Sign  both  and 
send  back  the  one  marked  with  red  X.  You  keep 
one  and  we  the  other." 

I  see  now  that  in  case  the  books  had  gone  up  to 
$3.00,  I  should  have  been  sure  of  my  author  profits 
of  fifteen  cents  and  "  all  right,"  even  if  I  had  con 
tinued  on  the  old  terms  of  ten  per  cent ;  but  I 
did  not  see  it  then,  nor  anything  else,  for  that  mat 
ter.  The  reasoning  of  this  process  is  not  a  little 
remarkable.  Prices  of  all  kinds  are  changing, 
therefore  your  price  shall  not  change.  And  what 


132  A   BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS. 

kind  of  percentage  is  that  which  is  no  percentage 
at  all  but  an  unchangeable  quantity  ? 

I  made  direct  inquiries  of  all  the  authors  accessi 
ble  to  me,  whose  works  were  in  the  hands  of  Messrs. 
Brummell  &  Hunt,  at  or  about  that  time.  I  re 
ceived  information  from  some  fifteen  different  per 
sons.  With  no  one  of  them  did  Messrs.  Brummell 
&  Hunt  make  the  arrangement  they  made  with 
me.  Nine  reported  receiving  ten  per  cent.  Some 
received  half  profits.  One  received  twelve  cents 
on  a  book  that  retailed  at  a  dollar  and  a  quarter. 
One  said  that  he  received  twelve  cents  on  a  dollar 
and  a  half  book  and  ten  cents  on  a  dollar  and  a 
quarter.  Another  that  he  receives  ten  per  cent, 
sometimes  but  not  always. 

Mr.  Hunt  often  urged  upon  me  the  advantage 
and  importance  of  my  writing  only  for  them  ;  so 
that,  with  the  exception  of  the  "  Segregationalissue- 
most,"  for  which  I  was  writing  when  I  began  with 
Messrs.  Brnmmell  &  Hunt,  I  have  neither  in  pe 
riodical  or  book,  written  for  any  other  house  than 
theirs.  It  might  seem  as  if  this  injunction  of  his, 
all  friendly  and  judicious  as  it  may  have  been,  did 
put  them  under  something  like  an  obligation  to  do 
as  well  by  me  as  any  other  house  would  do. 

When  "  City  Lights "  was  published,  its  retail 
price  was  a  dollar  and  a  quarter,  and  the  first  ac 
count  allows  me  twelve  and  a  quarter  cents  a  vol- 


A  BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS.  133 

ume.  Mr.  Parry  said  that  the  retail  price  of  the 
books  was  changed  five  or  six  times  after  my  per 
centage  was  changed  to  a  fixed  sum.  The  latter 
change  was  made  in  the  autumn  of  1764.  In  a 
copy  of  "  Rocks  of  Offense,"  date  1764,  the  ad 
vertised  retail  price  of  all  the  books  is  one  dollar 
and  a  half.  "  Old  Miasmas  "  was  published  in  the 
autumn  of  1764,  and  was,  from  the  beginning,  sold 
at  two  dollars.  These  are  the  only  prices  that  I 
have  seen  or  heard  of  since  the  first.  Mr.  Parry, 
however,  says  they  have  at  two  different  times  been 
held  at  one  dollar  and  seventy-five  cents.  I  think 
those  times  must  have  been  of  very  short  duration, 
as  I  never  saw  those  prices  advertised,  and  never 
knew  of  their  existence.  I  have  inquired  incog 
nito  of  the  principal  booksellers  in  Athens  and 
not  one  of  them  was  aware  that  the  price  had  ever 
been  put  down  since  it  was  put  up.  But,  with  all 
the  changes,  the  difficulties  of  computing  percent 
age  can  hardly  have  been  insurmountable. 

Mr.  Parry  at  this  time  told  me  what  I  did  not 
know  before, —  that  the  publishers  reserved  to  them 
selves  in  the  first  contract  for  "  City  Lights  "  fif 
teen  hundred  books.  The  contract  specifies  only 
the  first  edition.  I  suppose  an  edition  has  no  pre 
scribed  size ;  but  I  have  never  in  any  other  case 
known  more  than  the  first  thousand  being  reserved 
to  the  publishers. 


134  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

"  City  Lights  "  was  published  September,  1762. 
On  the  first  of  December  of  the  same  year  Mr. 
Hunt  reported  that  before  January  it  would  have 
gone  to  a  fourth  edition.  I  should  like  to  know  if 
each  of  those  four  editions  numbered  fifteen  hun 
dred  volumes.  What,  for  instance,  was  the  size  of 
the  second  edition,  or  the  third  ? 

After  careful  inquiry  I  found  no  one  in  the 
"  regular  line  "  paying  or  receiving  less  than  ten 
per  cent.,  with  the  possible  exceptions  I  have  men 
tioned.  Mr.  Dickson  was  assured  by  a  prominent 
member  of  the  firm,  that  the  Troubadours  never 
think  in  any  case  of  offering  less  than  ten  per  cent, 
on  the  retail  price,  and  that  in  some  cases  they  pay 
twelve  and  a  half  or  fifteen.  He  is  confident  that 
there  has  been  no  change  within  the  last  few  years, 
and  that  ten  per  cent,  is  the  current  copyright  with 
all  reputable  publishers,  not  only  in  Corinth,  but  in 
other  cities.  He  says  an  instance  occurred  with 
one  of  their  writers  in  which  they  agreed  to  pay  a 
certain  amount  per  volume ;  but  as  there  was  an 
implied  understanding  that  it  was  so  much  per  cent, 
on  the  retail  price,  the  matter  was  compromised  be 
tween  publishers  and  author  when  prices  went  up." 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  DANE,  JANUARY  7,  1769. 

"Your  letter  made  me  laugh,  and  so  did  me 
good,  like  a  medicine.  By  turning  to  the  latter 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  135 

pages  of  my  bulky  book  you  will  find  the  gist  of 
Mr.  P.'s  errand  here.  He  desired  first  to  explain 
the  matters  to  me,  then  to  refer  to  Mr.  S.,  then 
to  take  two  new  men,  but  I  persuaded  him  out  of 

them  all He  was  to  communicate  with  Mr. 

Russell  to-day,  and  I  expect  to  hear  the  result  to 
morrow.  I  am  in  hopes  to  have  the  thing  begun 
on  Saturday,  if  we  can  make  forty  ends  meet.  Mr. 
Parry  thinks  it  will  take  several  days,  as  he  says 
they  shall  bring  out  their  books  for  examination ;  — 
shall  not  confine  themselves  to  the  prescribed  cus 
tom  of  publishers  to  pay  ten  per  cent,  but  shall 
bring  in  other  things,  I  don't  know  what,  —  their  fig 
ures,  I  suppose,  to  show  what  an  unprofitable  thing 
publishing  is.  He  was  uncertain  whether  Mr.  Rog 
ers  would  consent  to  act.  I  begged  Mr.  P.  to  say  to 
him  that  I  should  not  consider  it  any  hostility  to  me. 
Mr.  P.  suggested  that  I  write  it  to  him  and  I  did. 
Can  you  appear  on  Saturday,  in  case  they  agree 
to  meet  ?  I  don't  want  to  come  out  myself.  I  send 
you  here  a  little  book  for  you  to  look  upon  like 
John  Rogers,  and  I  think  that  will  answer  far  bet 
ter  than  I  could.  I  will  send  you  also  my  accounts 
in  case  you  might  want  them.  I  believe  you  have 
the  contracts.  You  can  read  the  statement  I  sup 
pose,  or  simply  present  it  and  let  them  read  it  them 
selves 

"  I  would  have  preferred  that  you  should  see  Mr. 


136  A   BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS. 

Parry,  but  I  could  find  no  sufficient  excuse  for  not 
seeing  him  myself,  and  I  feared  it  might  be  offen 
sive  to  insist  upon  your  presence But  as  it 

was,  Mr.  Parry  apparently  had  no  mischievous  in 
tent.  He  said  they  should  pay  if  the  arbitrators  so 
decided,  but  seemed  particularly  desirous  that  I  also 
should  agree  to  accept  the  decision  and  fully  to  ex 
onerate  B.  &  H.  in  case  the  decision  should  be  for 
them,  and  that  I  should  say  so  to  my  friends  and 
those  who  had  been  made  acquainted  with  my  dis 
satisfaction.  Of  course  it  would  be  infamous  not  to 
do  that.  I  was  very  favorably  impressed.  It  seems 
as  if  they  must  be  honest  or  he  could  not  appear  as 
he  did,  but  I  assure  you  I  did  not  '  gush  '  in  the 
least.  I  told  him  I  should  accept  the  decision  as 
far  as  regarded  the  past  before  this  year,  but  all 
the  world  could  not  convince  me  that  they  had  met 
me  fairly  and  satisfactorily  since  I  began  to  investi 
gate  ;  that  I  thought  their  course  had  been  such  as 
to  aggravate  and  even  to  originate  suspicion.' 

HUNT,  PARRY,  &  CO.  TO  M.  N.,  JANUARY  7,  1769. 

"  We  have  had  an  interview  with  Mr.  Russell 
this  morning.  He  agrees  with  us  that  it  would  not 
be  wise  to  enter  into  the  business  of  the  reference 
without  ample  time  to  consider  all  the  points  in 
volved,  especially  as  Mr.  Rogers  declines  positively 
to  act,  and  we  are  now  compelled  to  choose  another 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  137 

referee.  Mr.  Russell  is  obliged  to  leave  for  London 
on  Saturday  night ;  and  he  on  the  whole  prefers  to 
come  to  Athens  some  four  weeks  hence  if  need  be, 
or  on  his  return  from  the  Witenagemote  the  1st  of 
March.  We  trust  this  will  be  satisfactory  to  you. 

"  For  the  associate  of  Mr.  Russell  in  the  case,  we 
select  the  Hon.  G.  W.  Hampden,  late  member  of 
Witenagemote  from  this  city.  The  two  gentlemen 
are  well  known  to  each  otjier.  Please  inform  us  if 
he  is  satisfactory  to  you  ;  and  also  please  inform  us  if 
it  is  your  wish  that  a  third  person  should  be  chosen 
by  these  two  before  a  hearing  be  had,  or  only  in 
the  event  of  their  disagreeing." 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  DANE. 

"  So  here  it  is  you  see,  apparently  as  far  off  as 
ever.  What  do  you  say  ?  I  think  I  have  heard 
that  Mr.  Hampden  is  a  large  paper-manufacturer, 
and  also  that  the  House  have  their  paper  of  him. 
If  so  I  think  it  would  not  be  best  that  he  should  be 
the  one,  but  I  don't  wish  to  be  cantankerous.  I 
will  not  answer  them  till  I  hear  from  you." 

MR.  DANE  TO  M.  N.,  JANUARY     9. 

"  When  you  have  practiced  law  thirty  years, 
man  and  boy,  as  I  have,  you  will  know  that  any 
business  that  requires  the  presence  of  five  or  six 
business  men  at  a  given  time  and  place,  is  of  indefi- 


138  A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

nite  duration,  and  if  those  men  are  five  hundred 
miles  apart,  the  indefiniteness  becomes  definitely 
long,  at  least.  You  know  there  is  to  be  an  organiza 
tion  of  the  new  Witenagemote  after  March  4,  so 
that  if  we  wait  for  Mr.  Russell,  we  can  have  no 
hearing  this  winter.  I  know  of  no  objection  to  Mr. 
Hampden." 

M.  N.  TO  H.,  p.,  &  co. 

"I  cannot -say  that  it  is  'satisfactory,'  because 
nothing  can  be  really  satisfactory  to  me  but  an  im 
mediate  and  pacific  settlement  of  my  claims. 

"  To  Mr.  Hampden  I  have  no  personal  objection 
whatever,  but  I  seem  to  recollect,  when  we  were  all 
living  in  Paradise,  before  the  fall,  having  heard  Mr. 
Hampden  spoken  of  by  Mr.  Hunt  as  a  paper-manu 
facturer,  with  whom  you  had  large  dealings.  If  so 
would  it  not  be  almost  too  much  to  expect  of  human 
nature  that  it  should  be  strictly  impartial  under 
such  circumstances  ?  I  simply  make  the  suggestion, 
not  even  being  sure  that  it  is  l  founded  on  fact.' 

"  The  choosing  of  a  third  person  I  should  leave 
entirely  with  the  two  chosen.  If  they  think  a  third 
unnecessary  so  much  the  better.  I  should  certainly 
think  two  fair-minded,  unprejudiced  persons  might 
get  at  the  truth  without  recourse  to  a  third." 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  139 

H.,  P.,  &  CO.  TO  M.  N.,  JANUARY  26. 

"  Our  business  relations  with  the  firm  of  which 
Hon.  G.  W.  Hampden  is  the  head,  have  been  for 
the  last  three  or  four  years  of  the  most  insignificant 
amount,  certainly  not  of  a  nature  to  warp  his  judg 
ment  in  our  favor.  Besides  Mr.  Hampden  is,  like 
Mr.  Russell,  too  honorable  a  man  [still  harping  on 
my  honor]  to  accept  the  position  of  a  judge  where 
his  prejudices  are  enlisted. 

"  We  do  not  understand  from  your  letter  that 
you  object  to  Mr.  Hampden.  On  hearing  from 
you  we  will  write  to  Mr.  Russell,  and  say  that  the 
Reference  only  waits  his  convenience." 

M.  N.  TO  H.,  P.,  &  CO.,  FEBRUARY    1. 

"  I  am  advised  —  and  the  advice  is  in  accordance 
with  my  own  opinion  —  that  I  have  no  right  to 
object  to  your  choice,  unless  the  person  chosen  be 
so  undesirable  that  I  decline  arbitration  rather  than 
accept  him  as  arbitrator.  This  certainly  is  not 
true  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Hampden.  I  have  given 
you  my  only  reason  for  objecting  to  him.  Since 
you  assure  me  this  reason  does  not  exist,  I  with 
draw  my  objection." 

H.,  P.,  &  CO.  TO  M.  N.,  FEBRUARY  11. 

"  We  have  written  to  Mr.  Russell  to  say  that 
Mr.  Hampden  will  meet  him  in  London  during  the 


140  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

week  of  Inauguration,  and  that  the  two  gentlemen 
can  then  fix  such  time  for  hearing  the  case  as  may 
suit  their  own  convenience." 

M.    N.    TO    MR.    DANE,    FEBRUARY  11. 

"  I  believe  that  you  have  gone  on  a  mission  to 
the  king  of  the  Cannibal  Islands.  Otherwise,  as 
Cicero  says,  where  in  the  world  are  you  ?  Nothing 
is  more  evident  than  that  you  have  given  the  world 
a  quitclaim  deed  of  me. 

"  And  that  is  why  I  am  writing.  About  a  fort 
night  ago,  Mr.  Woodlee,  the  Grand  Vizier,  wrote 
to  me  saying  that  he  should  be  off  duty  on  the 
4th  of  March,  and  if  I  liked  would  be  very 
happy,  as  a  friend,  to  present  my  grievances  to  the 
referees.  Mr.  Woodlee  is  an  intimate  friend  of 
mine,  and  when  he  was  down  to  see  me  last  sum 
mer  I  reno-varied  my  dolores  at  his  own  request. 
I  wrote  to  Mr.  Woodlee  at  once  that  we  must  not 
swap  horses  in  crossing  a  stream,  even  though  the 
horse  was  a  poor  one.  I  did  not  use  those  words, 
but  that  was  the  substance  of  doctrine  —  the  poor 
horse,  my  love,  meaning  you !  He  did  not  know 
your  connection  with  it,  or  did  not  remember. 
Since  then  your  intense  and  aggravated  silence  has 
led  me  to  think  that  perhaps  you  are  so  utterly 
weary  with  the  whole  thing,  and  me  into  the  bargain, 
that  you  would  hail  with  delight  any  opportunity  to 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  141 

bid  farewell,  a  long  farewell,  to  all  my  greatness. 
If  you  do,  here  is  your  chance.  If  you  write  to 
me  and  say  that  you  should  be  happy  to  wash  your 
hands  of  me  with  Castile  soap  and  three  waters,  I 
shall  weep  salt  tears  from  the  briny  deep,  and  send 
on  to  London  by  next  mail. 

"  You  have  had  a  rich  time  of  it  with  me  I  know, 
if  I  only  meant  to  pay  you.  Well,  truly,  I  do  mean 
to  pay  you  —  a  little,  not  much  —  say  seventy-five 
cents  or  a  dollar,  —  not  half  as  much  as  you  de 
serve.  But  I  tell  you  now  so  you  need  not  think 
I  am  leaving  your  family  penniless.  And  what  I 
do  not  pay  in  money,  I  shall  make  up  to  you  in  ap 
preciation,  for  I  think  you  have  managed  the  case 
with  clear  insight  and  much  skill,  —  that  is,  under 
my  supervision.  I  have  held  you  back  from  what 
was  rash  and  inaccurate,  and  between  us  we  have 
got  matters  pretty  well  in  hand.  Now  it  seems  to 
me  that  if  you  have  held  but  so  long  it  will  be  bet 
ter  for  you  to  hold  out  to  the  end.  The  making-up 
is  about  made  up.  To  be  sure  I  am  going  to  re 
write  my  statement  and  shall  probably  continue  the 
process  so  long  as  it  remains  in  my  possession,  but 
the  main  points  will  be  the  same,  so  you  will  appa 
rently  have  little  more  trouble  with  it.  Now  please 
to  tell  me  just  how  you  feel  about  it  —  or  rather,  for 
that  is  too  much  to  ask,  — just  how  you  propose  to 
feel.  I  think  you  have  had  my  '  Statement '  about 


142  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

long  enough  for  your  share,  so  I  will  take  my  turn 
at  holding  the  baby.  You  may  send  it  down  by  ex 
press  if  you  please,  together  with  the  bills  and  con 
tracts  thereunto  appertaining,  and  let  me  see  if  it 
has  improved  with  age." 

MR.  DANE  TO  M.  N.,  FEBRUARY  18. 

"  Ungrateful  Female,  After  all  my  trials  and  trib 
ulations,  and  fault-findings  at  your  course,  you  now 
purpose  to  swap  me  off.  Well,  I  will  free  my  mind, 
if  I  die  for  it.  My  opinion  is,  that  neither  Mr. 
Woodlee,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  any 
other  creature,  can  do  so  much  for  you  in  your  trial 
as  I  can.  I  believe  Mr.  Woodlee  is  a  few  years 
younger  than  I  and  so  has  a  greater  chance  to  live 
to  the  end  of  it  cceteris  paribus,  but  cceteris  are  not 
paribus,  because  he  lives  away  from  the  scene,  and 
there  never  could  be  a  conjunction  of  Hampden, 
Woodlee,  Russell,  etc.  If  I  were  to  fly  up  and  say 
I  would  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  your  case, 
because  you  won't  follow  my  advice,  there  would  be 
reason  in  it,  but  for  you  to  take  a  new  adviser  — 
Why  you  don't  know  how  much  Mr.  Woodlee  must 
go  through  to  be  as  familiar  with  the  matter  as  I 
am,  and  don't  you  see  that  you  must  not  tax  these 
far-off  friends  in  this  way  ?  I,  who  am  your  real 
friend,  you  may  do  anything  with,  but  Mr.  Woodlee 
and  Mr.  Russell  never  will  leave  all  and  follow  you 
to  Athens  and  spend  days  on  this  trial 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  143 

"  Do  not  be  foolish  unless  it  is  really  necessary.  I 
want  to  make  H.,  P.,  &  Co.  do  right,  and  I  want  to 
do  all  for  you  that  is  possible.  As  the  matter  must 
be  heard  at  Athens,  I  am  the  person  to  do  it  with 
least  trouble.  Your  letter  found  me  at  Marathon 
yesterday.  I  shall  be  home  next  week,  and  your 
papers  shall  be  sent.  In  the  mean  time  the  Lord 
restore  you  to  reason.  Swap  me  off  indeed!  Your 
only  friend !  " 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  DANE,  MARCH  8. 

"  I  am  bright  but  not  quick.  In  short  I  am  slow. 
"When  you  inf —  ex  —  ci  —  well —  asked  me  in  Ox 
ford  what  I  was  writing  my  Statement  for,  I  sup 
pose  you  saw  what  I  only  just  now  see,  —  that  a 
large  part  of  it  was  not  necessary.  I  had  in  mind  the 
justification  of  my  mode  as  well  as  of  my  claim,  and 
for  that  the  whole  case  needed  to  be  unfolded.  But 
since  that  letter  was  found,  my  mind  has  somehow 
clarified  —  the  brown  sugar  has  all  turned  white, 
and  if  you  want  to  eat  me  while  I  am  sweet  now 
is  your  time. 

uNow  then,  as  you  are  a  man  and  inexperienced, 
let  me  briefly  jot  down  for  you  an  outline  of  my 
proper  mode  of  defense. 

"  The  brief  is  a  perfect  Troy  in  a  nutshell  and  all 
you  need  to  plume  your  wings  with.  Read  that  in 
the  Valley  of  Decision  and  immediately  walk  across 


144  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

the  room  to  the  corner  where  H.  &  P.  will  be  cow 
ering,  and  shake  your  fists  in  their  face.  They 
will  reply  that  they  do  not  make  one  author  the 
criterion  for  another,  whereat  you  will  take  a  flying 
leap  over  all  the  intervening  pages  to  the  letter 
which  says,  '  This  arrangement  we  now  make  with 
all  our  authors.' 

"  They  will  then  bring  forward  their  books  to 
show  that  they  cannot  pay  me  more  without  starv 
ing  themselves.  You  will  immediately  rule  that  out 
of  court  as  not  germane  to  the  case,  and  the  arbi 
trators  will  at  once  award  me  three  thousand  dollars 
due,  and  three  thousand  more  damages,  which  you 
will  bring  me  in  gold  to  Zoar,  and  I  will  buy  two 
pounds  of  New  York  candy  and  give  a  party  in 
honor  of  the  event.  I  don't  see  why  the  rest  of 
the  Statement  need  to  be  brought  in  at  all  unless, 
first, 

"  They  deny  that  they  have  not  made  the  same 
arrangements  with  all  their  authors.  If  they  do, 
you  must  turn  to  my  declaration  and  proof;  or, 
second, 

"  They  say  that  my  mode  of  making  my  claim 
was  so  offensive  that  they  could  not  notice  it.  This 
I  have  heard  of  in  substance  privately.  If  they  do 
this  then  I  insist  upon  the  whole  Statement's  being 
laid  before  them." 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  145 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  DANE,  MARCH  10. 

" '  The  sense  of  the  dear ! '  as  Peggotty  said 
when  Davy  gave  in  his  adhesion  to  her  marriage  on 
the  ground  of  her  being  able  to  come  and  see  him 
without  cost  of  coach-hire. 

"  Appropos  to  what  ?  Why,  to  your  letter,  of 
course,  and  a  two  months'  session,  and  Dark  Care 
sitting  behind  the  horseman,  in  general. 

"  Isn't  the  tenth  of  March  the  Prince  of  Wales' 
wedding-day  ? 

"  The  advantage  of  Halliday  being  in  the  Cabi 
net  is,  that  I  shall  control  you,  you  will  control  him, 
he  will  control  Grant,  and  for  once  we  shall  be  sure 
of  having  the  government  well  administered. 

"  For  my  private  fortunes,  if  I  have  the  Lord 
High  Chancellor  for  my  judge,  the  co-Secretary  of 
State  for  my  fighting  corps,  and  the  Grand  Vizier 
Suzerain  for  my  reserve  force,  I  shall  at  least  fall 
into  as  well  as  in  good  company. 

"  Dr.  Edwards  used  to  say  that  if  Mr.  Springfield 
were  not  a  sharp  New  England  lawyer,  he  would 
be  the  first  statesman  of  the  day.  Mutato  nomine 
de  tef alula  et  pluribus  unum  et  cetera. 

"  It  seems  impossible  to  get  the  kink  of  the  law 
out  of  your  brain.  I  can  stand  it  very  well  be 
cause  I  have  you  only  in  spots,  but  poor  F.,  who 
has  the  whole  vast  sandy  plain  destitute  of  vege 
tation  on  her  hands,  must  have  a  life  of  it. 
10 


146  A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

"  Behold  a  few  of  the  holes  which  I  am  about  to 
punch  in  your  case  to  let  in  light :  — t 

"  4  We  claim  ten  per  cent.'     Right. 

"  '  H.  says  it  is  more  than  you  were  worth,  and 
besides  you  agreed  to  less.'  Very  well  put  and  very 
probable. 

"  '  We  reply,  Ten  per  cent,  is  the  least  anybody 
is  worth.'  No  we  don't.  We  decline  to  enter  into 
the  question  of  worth,  and  demand  the  pound  of 
flesh.  They  say,  c  Very  well,  here  is  the  bond ; ' 
and  then  we  say,  — '  You  deceived  us  into  our 
assent  by,'  etc.,  etc. 

"  As  for  their  '  cruelty  '  —  not  a  bit  of  it.  It  is 
legitimate  warfare.  They  made  my  fame  by  adver 
tising,  they  say.  Very  well.  I  reply,  first,  they 
didn't,  and  second,  what  if  they  did  ?  If  they  made 
my  sales  by  advertising,  why  did  they  not  make 
A.'s  in  the  same  way  ?  He  has  never  yet  received 
a  penny  for  the  B  treatise.  Why  not  C.'s  books, 
of  which  he  says  all  that  have  been  sold  a  cat  could 
carry,  and  so  on.  On  the  other  hand,  that  they 
have  done  a  great  deal  towards  circulating  them  I 
readily  admit.  What  do  I  pay  them  ninety  per 
cent,  for,  I  should  like  to  know,  if  not  that? 
Publishing  is  their  business.  That  they  have  done 
more  than  another  publisher  would,  I  deny.  They 
have  simply  transacted  their  business  in  the  way 
they  deemed  most  profitable  to  themselves.  I  deny 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  147 

that  they  have  clone  anything  for  me  out  of  the 
usual  course  of  trade. 

"  About  the  advertising,  I  am  indeed  not  fully 

persuaded Possibly  the  books  have  had  their 

day  and  would  have  fallen  off  any  way.  A  fort 
night  or  so  ago,  perhaps  more,  Mr.  Smith  applied  to 
me  to  write  for  his  paper.  I  named  my  price.  He 
rather  recalcitrated.  I  wrote  a  letter  that  tickled 
him,  and  he  then  proposed  to  come  down  and 
see  me  and  make  an  arrangement.  He  was  to  be 

in  Athens,  '  the  guest  of  his  friend  Mr. ! ' 

But  in  Athens  he  heard  from  "two  different 
sources  that  I  was  less  popular  than  I  had  been," 
and  so  he  beat  a  retreat  to  Corinth  without  seeing 
me  at  all.  Isn't  there  a  wheel  within  a  wheel  ? 

"  Is  this  wearing  away  my  soul  ?  Then  my  soul 
must  be  like  the  liver  of  Tityus,  forever  spent,  re 
newed  forever. 

"  If  you  think  I  don't  value  money,  send  me 
down  a  hundred  dollar  note  and  see  ! 

"  The  manner  of  my  making  my  claim  is  not  ma 
terial  to  the  issue.  No.  But  there  is  no  use  in 
wasting  the  time  and  temper  of  the  men  by  un 
necessary  words. 

"  Now  I  beg  you  to  disabuse  your  mind  of  the 
supposition  that  we  are  a  court !     The  especial  ad 
vantage  of  this  way  of  settlement  is,  that   we  are 
not  a  court.  .....  You  will  probably  little  relish 

this  letter,  but  it  is  for  your  good." 


148  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  DANE,  MARCH  20. 

"  I  do  not  know  whether  your  letter  requires'an 
answer,  but  as  the  old  philosopher  said,  *  I  have 
often  been  sorry  I  kept  still  but  never  was  sorry  I 
spoke.'  So  I  will  give  you  the  benefit  of  the  doubt. 

"Ellingwood  &  Sampson  are  respectable.  So 
far  so  good.  I  suppose  they  stand  first  in  New 
England,  don't  they,  by  all  odds  ?  But  they  are  in 
New  England,  and  I  have  conceived  a  distaste  for 
New  England  publishing.  Also  they  don't  publish 
solid  books  such  as  mine,  but  Whately,  Bacon, 
Wheaton,  and  similar  light  literature.  Would  they 
be  as  likely  to  do  well  by  me  as  a  big  New  York 
Mandarin,  like  the  Troubadours  or  Pearvilles  ?  Do 
they  know  that  my  popularity  is  like  that  retired 
clergyman  whose  sands  of  life  are  nearly  run  out  ? 
They  will  take  a  new  book,  but  shall  I  let  the  old 
go  to  waste,  and  ought  not  the  new  to  go  with 
the  old  to  communicate  an  impulse  thereunto? 
And  is  it  not  better  to  let  the  whole  be  till  after 
arbitration,  or  the  overthrow  of  the  existing  order 
of  things  ?  I  should  like  H.,  P.,  &  Co.  to  be  as  little 
exasperated  as  possible  before  Gog  and  Magog  come 
to  close  quarters Homer  had  to  pay  an  im 
mense  sum  for  one  of  his  books  which  was  quite  out 

of  print  and  of  no  use  to  the  publisher If 

Mr.  Campton  testifies  that  the  cost  of  making  my 
books  is  so  much  and  the  profit  so  much,  they  must 


A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  149 

admit  or  deny  it.  If  they  admit  his  figures  they 
admit  the  profits  which  they 'have  heretofore  de 
nied.  If  they  deny  his  figures  they  deny  profits ; 
and  how  can  they  ask  high  prices  for  unprofitable 
property  ?  If  Mertons  have  personal  grievances 
to  redress  they  would  be  more  likely  to  take  me 
up  con  amore,  and  so  I  make  friends  of  the  mam 
mon  of  unrighteousness.  But  I  shall  be  a  trouble 
some  person  hereafter  to  transact  business  with. 
Having  once  wasted  my  sweetness  on  the  desert 
air,  I  shall  be  henceforth  only  the  mother  of  vine 
gar.  Whenever  I  see  a  publisher  coming  in  at  the 
front  gate,  I  shall  drop  the  cake-basket  into  the 
wash-boiler,  slip  the  spoons  into  my  pocket  and 
keep  my  hand  on  my  watch  all  the  time  I  am  talk 
ing  with  him,  which  might  not  look  conciliatory. 
Be  sure  and  tell  Mr.  Campton  this,  and  also  that 
there  is  no  sale  for  the  books,  that  is,  if  you  ever 
say  more  to  him  about  it.  I  don't  wish  to  sail  into 
anybody's  good  graces  under  false  colors,  and  am 
willing  to  take  for  granted  Butler's  (Samuel) 
declaration  that  the  pleasure  is  as  great  in  being 
cheated  as  to  cheat.  I  am  not  sure  I  shall  not  write 
a  book  and  call  it 

'  HARI-KAKI, 

OR 
A    CURIOSITY    OP   LITERATURE/ 


150  A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

and  put  The  Whole  Deviltry  of  Man  into  it.  ... 
Is  not  he  who  compounds  with  wickedness  as  bad 
as  he  who  commits  it?  And  oughtn't  I  to  hold 
up  my  beacon  as  a  warning  to  all  future  genera 
tions  ?  If  I  am  not  only  to  be  fought  above 
ground,  but  am  also  to  be  undermined,  shall  not  I 
countermine? 

" '  And  shall  Trelawney  die,  and  shall  Trelawney  die, 

Then  thirty  thousand  Cornish  boys  will  know  the  reason  why ! ' 

"  I  am  that  thirty  thousand  Cornish  boys. 

"  You  are  not  expected  to  answer  my  questions. 
You  can  ponder  them  as  a  theme  for  meditation  in 
the  night-watches." 

MR.  DANE  TO  M.  N.,  MARCH  22. 

"  Mr.  Hunt  proposes  to  pass  the  season  abroad 
—  probably  will  go  about  the  time  the  Lord  High 
Chancellor  &  Co.  are  ready  to  hear  us." 

HUNT,  PARRY,  &  CO.  TO  M.  N.,  APRIL  12. 

"  We  are  in  hopes  of  getting  a  meeting  of  our 
referees  early  next  week.  Mr.  Russell  has  advised 
us  of  his  intention  of  being  in  Athens  some  time 
next  week,  and  we  have  requested  him  to  appoint 
as  early  a  day  as  possible  in  order  to  accommodate 
Mr.  Hampden.  We  trust  you  will  be  prepared  to 
meet  the  referees  on  any  day  they  may  appoint." 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  151 

M.  N.  TO  H.,  P.,  &  CO.,  APRIL  13. 

"  I  have  been  ready  to  meet  the  referees  for  five 
months,  and  I  trust  nothing  will  hinder  me  from 
meeting  them  on  any  day  they  may  appoint." 

A  conjunction  of  the  heavenly  bodies  was  at 
length  agreed  upon  for  April  22,  1769.  I  mention 
the  year  for  the  benefit  of  future  ages. 

MR.  DANE  TO  H.,  P.,  &  CO.,  APRIL  16. 

"  To  any  right  understanding  of  the  questions 
involved  in  the  proposed  reference,  it  seems  neces 
sary  that  the  referees  should  have  information  such 
as  is  indicated  in  the  interrogatories  herewith  in 
closed,  which  can  come  only  from  yourselves.  If 
you  can  send  me  the  answers  before  the  referees 
meet,  it  may  prevent  delay." 

The  interrogatories  were  as  follows  :  — 

"  1.  How  many  copies  of  each  of  the  works  of 
M.  N.  have  been  printed  by  your  authority;  how 
many  editions  of  each,  at  what  dates*  and  how 
many  in  each  edition  ? 

"  2.  How  many  copies  of  each  of  said  works 
have  you  accounted  to  her  for,  and  at  what  rate  of 
compensation  for  each  respectively?  Please  ex 
hibit  a  full  and  exact  account. 

"  3.  How  many  copies  of  each  of  the  works  of 


152     A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

the  authors  named  below  have  you  accounted  for  to 
said  authors  respectively,  and  at  what  rate  per 
centum  on  the  retail  price  of  each,  when  reckoned 
by  percentage,  and  at  what  price  in  gross  when  paid 
in  gross,  and  upon  what  contract,  if  any,  with 
each,  for  each  of  their  works,  that  is  to  say,  —  A., 
B.,  C.,  D.,  E.,  F.,  G.,  H.,  L,  J.,  K.,  L.,  M.,  N.  ? 

"  4.  Had  you  with  either  of  the  authors  named 
above,  on  the  day  of  the  date  of  your  last  contract 
with  M.  N.,  or  to  wit,  on  September  4th,  1764, 
or  afterwards,  and  when  any,  and  if  any  what  agree 
ment  with  either,  and  which  of  them,  that  such  au 
thors  should  receive  any  and  what  sum  in  gross 
instead  of  a  percentage,  and  was  such  agreement 
written  or  verbal  ? 

"  5.  What  were  the  net  profits  of  the  '  Adri 
atic'  each  year,  from  1762  to  1767,  inclusive? 

"  6.  What  were  the  net  profits  of  the  firm  of 
Brummell  &  Hunt  each  year,  from  1762'  to  1767, 
inclusive  ?  " 

H.,  P.,  &  CO.  TO  MR.  DANE,  APRIL  19. 

"  We  are  in  receipt  of  your  note  addressed  to 
Brummell  &  Hunt  of  the  16th  inst.,  with  its  in- 
closure. 

"  It  seems  to  us  premature  to  now  consider  the 
evidence  to  be  used  before  the  referees,  as  the  ordi 
nary  preliminaries  to  the  reference  itself  have  not 
been  completed." 


A  BATTLE  OF   THE  BOOKS.  153 

MR.  DANE  TO  M.  N.,  APRIL  19. 

"  Your  package  came  an  hour  ago,  and  while  I 
was  reading  it  came  this  note  from  H.,  P.,  &  Co. 
It  means  delay,  I  suppose,  or  perchance  it  means 
if  M.  N.  has  a  lawyer  we  will  have  one  and  put  all 
in  legal  shape." 

H.,  P.,  &  CO.  TO  M.  N.,  APRIL  21. 

"  On  the  16th  we  received  a  communication  from 
Mr.  Nathan  Dane,  which  led  us  to  suppose  he  was 
acting  as  your  attorney,  and  had  charge  of  the  mat 
ter  of  reference  on  your  behalf.  We  replied  to  his 
communication,  and  we  have  heard  nothing  from 
him  since." 

I  did  not  see  that  there  was  any  point  to  any 
of  these  letters  and  I  did  not  reply  to  them  or  give 
myself  any  trouble  about  them.  If  Messrs.  Hunt, 
Parry,  &  Co.,  wanted  further  delay  why  had  they 
agreed  upon  a  day,  and  what  should  they  want  of 
further  delay  ?  As  they  had  frequently  had  com 
munication  with  Mr.  Dane  concerning  this  matter, 
and  had  themselves  spoken  of  him  as  my  attorney 
without  contradiction  from  me,  I  did  not  quite  see 
how  they  could  have  waited  for  the  interrogatories, 
to  be  led  to  any  new  supposition  in  that  respect. 
As  to  their  having  a  lawyer,  while  I  did  not  see 
why  they  should  want  one,  I  certainly  had  no  ob- 


154  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

jection.  I  thought  Mr.  Parry  had  come  down  to 
Zoar  on  purpose  to  arrange  the  preliminaries  of  the 
reference,  and  that  they  were  sufficiently  arranged 
at  that  time.  But  I  apprehended  no  trouble  on 
that  score,  and  took  no  thought  about  it. 


IX. 

BATTLE  OF  GOG  AND  MAGOG. 


E    have    now    reached    a  point   in    the 
tragedy    where    the    English    language 
breaks   down    and     Pius    JEneas   must 
come  to  the  rescue  and  tell  — 

"  Trojanas  ut  opes,  et  lamentabile  regnum 
Emeruit  Danai ;  quseque  ipse  miserrima  vidi, 
Et  quorum  pars  magna  fui.    Quis  talia  fando, 
Myrmidonum,  Dolopumve,  aut  duri  miles  Ulyssei, 
Temperet  a  lachrymis  ? 

Sed  si  tantus  amor  (  ?  )  casus  cognoscere  nostros, 
Et  breviter  Trojae  supremum  audire  laborem; 
Quanquam  animus  meminisse  horret,  luctuque  refugit, 
Incipiam." 

And,  giving  the  "  ^Eneid  "  with  some  variations, 
I  might  go  on  — 

"  Est  in  conspectu  M.  N.  notissima  fama 
Insula,  dives  opum,  agrorum  et  osboni  dura  regna  manebant." 

I  consented  to  be  in  conspectu  on  Mr.  Dane's 
earnest  representations  that  matters  might  come 
up  on  which  I  was  better  informed  than  he,  and 
on  which  my  statements  might  be  important. 


156  A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

Of  course,  after  all  this  trouble,  it  was  not  worth 
while  to  run  any  risk  through  mere  personal 
feeling. 

At  the  appointed  time,  accordingly,  the  com 
batants  appeared  upon  the  arena  at  Mars  Hill 
House,  in  martial  array.  Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry, 
&  Co.  were  led  by  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Sudlow,  whose 
purpose,  it  soon  appeared,  was  not  to  open,  but 
to  postpone  the  battle.  I  must  admit  I  listened 
in  amazement.  Here,  after  sixteen  months  of 
backing  and  filling,  three  months  after  an  arbitra 
tion  had  been  agreed  on,  and  more  than  a  week 
after  the  day  had  been  appointed  by  them  and  ac 
cepted  by  me,  they  apppeared  for  the  purpose  of 
saying  that  they  could  not  go  on  with  the  case.  I 
remembered  with  astonishment  that  on  the  thir 
teenth  of  November  preceding,  the  affair  had 
seemed  so  simple  to  Mr.  Hunt  that  he  had  written 
to  one  of  those  friends  of  mine  to  whom  he  had 
wished  and  I  had  declined  to  refer  the  case,  "  If 
you  and  I,  business  men,  could  have  half  an  hour's 
talk  together,  and  M.  N.  would  abide  by  your  de 
cision,  I  think  that  half  hour  would  be  sufficient  to 
settle  the  whole  thing."  Whereas,  now,  before  the 
man  whom  I  had  chosen,  three  months  did  not 
seem  long  enough.  The  reasons  presented  by  Mr. 
Sudlow  were,  first,  that  the  preliminaries  were  not 
arranged.  The  referees  themselves  averred  in  sub- 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BVOKS.     157 

stance  that  this  could  be  done  in  five  minutes  on 
the  spot,  and  there  need  be  no  delay  on  that 
account. 

Mr.  Sudlow  said,  secondly,  that  at  an  early  stage 
of  the  affair  I  had  waived  all  legal  claim,  or  had  never 
made  any,  yet  that  I  now  appeared  with  a  lawyer 
as  if  to  establish  a  legal  claim  ;  that  this  was  an 
entirely  new  phase,  and  one  which  they  could  not 
meet  without  due  preparation.  It  was  alleged  in 
reply,  that  our  courts  do  not  distinguish  between 
legal  claims  and  claims  in  equity,  and  that  however 
I  might  present  my  claim,  it  was  as  a  debt  and 
not  as  a  gift ;  that  it  surely  would  not  be  held  by 
Messrs.  Hunt.  Parry,  &  Co.,  that  the  reference  had 
been  called  to  arbitrate  upon  a  gratuity.  After  a 
good  deal  of  talk,  Mr.  Dane  called  for  the  authority 
by  which  they  said  I  had  waived  all  legal  claims  ; 
and  they  produced  the  letter  sent  them  by  me  on 
the  29th  August,  1767,  about  eight  months  before 
this  time,  which  said,  "  Of  course  I  know  that  le 
gally  I  have  no  right  to  go  behind  a  contract,  and 
therefore  no  legal  claim  upon  you  for  additional 
money  on  those  books  that  are  named  in  the  con 
tract."  Mr.  Dane  pointed  out,  that,  even  on  this 
ground  there  was  no  waiving  of  legal  claims,  ex 
cept  on  those  books  named  in  the  contract  referred 
to.  As  only  three  books  were  embraced  in  that 
contract,  as  one  was  published  under  a  different 


158  A  BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS. 

contract  which  we  wished  carried  out,  and  five 
were  published  without  any  contract  at  all,  the 
postponing  of  the  case  on  this  pretext  was  simply 
preposterous.  It  seemed  to  me,  moreover,  though 
I  said  nothing,  that  even  if  I  had  supposed  eight 
months  ago  that  I  had  no  legal  claims,  I  might  have 
subsequently  learned  otherwise,  and  that  any  per 
son  who  really  wanted  the  case  looked  into  and 
satisfactorily  settled  would  never  have  been  de 
terred  by  so  slight  an  obstacle.  But  the  contest  as 
it  stood  was  two-thirds  legal,  and  it  would  seem  as 
if  an  enterprising  firm  of  four  shrewd  business  men 
might  have  been  prepared  to  illustrate  it  in  eight 
months  if  they  had  given  their  minds  to  it. 

Mr.  Sudlow  affirmed,  thirdly,  that  Messrs.  Hunt, 
Parry,  &  Co.  had  supposed  they  should  meet  me 
alone  for  a  friendly  reference;  that  on  such  a 
supposition  they  had  arranged  to  be  represented 
before  the  referees  by  one  member  of  their  firm, 
Mr.  Markman,  who  had  accordingly  prepared  to 
present  the  case;  that  until  they  received  Mr. 
Dane's  letter  of  interrogatories  of  the  16th  instant, 
they  had  not  supposed  I  should  employ  counsel,  but 
if  I  employed  counsel  they  also  should  employ 
counsel ;  that  they  were  not  prepared  to  appear 
with  counsel,  and  must  have  a  postponement  for 
the  purpose  of  making  such  preparation,  and  as  Mr. 
Hunt  was  to  leave  for  Europe  on  the  following 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  159 

Monday,  the  postponement  must  hold  till  after  his 
return  from  Europe. 

Mr.  Dane  asked  them  if  they  meant  to  allege 
that  they  had  stipulated  that  I  should  not  employ 
counsel.  They  said  they  had  not  so  stipulated, 
but  that  they  supposed  I  would  not  employ  it. 
Mr.  Dane  then  said  that  he  had  been  my  adviser 
from  the  beginning,  both  as  my  friend  and  as  a 
friend  of  Mr.  Hunt,  Mr.  Hunt  having  done  him  the 
honor  to  speak  of  him  as  an  old  friend ;  that  he  had 
had  frequent  communications  with  them  on  this 
subject,  as  they  well  knew,  and  that  they  had 
made  no  objection  to  his  connection  with  it ;  that  it 
made  no  difference  except  in  name,  whether  he 
was  called  my  counsel  or  my  friend ;  that,  although 
he  was  a  lawyer  he  trusted  he  was  not  on  that  ac 
count  to  be  excluded  from  the  circle  of  my  friends, 
and  that,  under  the  circumstances,  it  might  be 
proper  for  him  to  state  that  my  name  had  never 
been  on  his  account-books,  and  that  he  had  all 
along  counseled  me  only  as  a  friend.  "  This 
thing,"  he  said,  "  is  not  to  be  misunderstood.  We 
want  to  be  definite.  Will  you  say  that  you  will  not 
proceed  because  M.  N.  has  counsel,  —  if  you  choose 
to  call  it  so,  —  when  she  never  said  that  she  would 
not  have  counsel,  nothing  ever  having  been  said 
about  it  ?  " 

They  still  reiterated  their  assertion  that  under 


160  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

the  circumstances  they  could  not  go  on  with  the 
case.  As  the  business  had  looked  to  Mr.  Hunt  so 
simple  that  two  business  men  could  settle  it  in 
half  an  hour,  it  would  seem  as  if  almost  any  kind 
of  a  lawyer  might  have  mastered  it  in  the  time 
between  the  16th  of  April,  when  the  idea  of  my 
having  counsel  first  dawned  upon  the  unsuspecting 
minds  of  Messrs.  H.,  P.,  &  Co.,  and  the  22d,  when 
the  hearing  was  to  be  had.  The  firm  must  rank 
law  far  below  commerce,  if  a  lawyer  could  not  un 
derstand  in  six  days  with  three  men  to  help  him, 
what  a  merchant  could  comprehend  in  half  an  hour 
alone. 

Mr.  Dane  then  consulted  with  me,  and  I  told 
him  upon  the  impulse  of  the  moment  that  I  would 
go  on.  This,  perhaps,  was  hardly  prudent  or 
proper.  But  there  had  been  so  much  difficulty 
and  delay  in  bringing  things  even  to  this  stage, 
the  trouble  had  weighed  so  heavily  and  dis 
astrously  upon  me,  that  anything  seemed  better 
than  an  indefinite  postponement.  Moreover,  the 
reasons  which  they  alleged  for  delay  appeared  to 
me  mere  quibbles.  I  thought  I  saw  that  they  did 
not  design  to  have  any  hearing,  and  that  if  we 
should  ever  get  together  again,  there  would  be  just 
as  much  reason  for  further  delay  as  now,  and  if  I  did 
not  secure  a  hearing  now,  I  never  should.  I  felt 
that  the  referees  must  surely  think  they  had  been 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.     161 

summoned  on  a  fool's  errand.  I  was  quite  aware 
not  only  of  my  inability  to  present  the  case  ad 
equately,  but  to  present  it  at  all  in  person,  —  but 
I  had  the  "  brief,"  which  Mr.  Dane  would  have 
used,  and  I  had  my  formidable  history  in  which  the 
referees  could  quarry  at  pleasure.  Even  if  I  should 
lose  the  case,  I  was  not  without  resource  ;  for  upon 
the  instant  when  I  saw  that  Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry, 
&  Co.  were  about  to  evade  the  only  thing  which  I 
had  wanted,  namely,  a  fair  and  full  discussion,  there 
came  into  my  mind  another  tribunal  which  it  would 
be  impossible  for  them  to  evade,  and  before  which 
I  could  present  my  case  with  or  without  counsel,  in 
my  own  time  and  way.  I  had  all  along  had  a 
vague  feeling  that  something  of  service  to  my  craft 
must  come  out  of  all  this  harassment  to  me,  though 
no  definite  idea  had  ever  evolved  itself.  But  at 
that  moment,  tingling  with  indignation  and  con 
tempt,  and  a  sense  of  outrage,  —  an  outrage  greater 
than  appears  here,  greater  I  think  than  the  junior 
members  of  the  firm  knew  or  intended,  but  not 
greater  than  Mr.  Hunt  knew,  and  I  believe  counted 
on,  —  at  that  moment  I  resolved  that  so  far  as 
I  could  help  it,  no  person  should  ever  be  placed  in 
the  position  in  which  I  found  myself.  If  any 
writer  thereafter  should  get  into  such  a  snare,  he 
should  not  blunder  in  as  I  had  done,  but  walk  in 

with  his  eyes  open.     I  thought  that  my  brief  and 
11 


162  A   BATTLE    OF  THE   BOOKS. 

my  "  Universal  History  "  would  be  enough  to  draw 
the  enemy's  fire.  I  should  know  where  they  stood, 
and  if  I  could  not  understand  the  analysis  and  cul 
tivation  of  the  soil,  I  could  at  least  map  out  the 
ground  for  other  investigators.  I  felt  that  I  could 
better  afford  to  lose  my  case  than  my  time.  Mr. 
Hunt  had  calculated  accurately  enough  the  quality 
and  amount  of  resistance  he  was  accumulating 
against  me.  The  thing  he  had  not  sufficiently  cal 
culated  was  the  amount  of  force  that  could  be 
brought  to  overcome  that  resistance. 

o 

Mr.  Dane  then  said,  that,  having  consulted  me, 
he  had  one  more  proposition  to  make  ;  he  was  not 
himself  surprised  at  the  turn  affairs  had  taken  ;  he 
had  at  the  beginning  advised  me  to  have  recourse 
to  the  courts  as  the  only  sure  way  of  redress,  but 
that  I  had  always  refused  to  do  so  ;  that  he  had 
repeatedly  predicted  —  even  to  the  preceding  day 
—  that  some  way  would  be  found  to  avoid  a  hear 
ing  ;  that  he  thought  it  hardly  fair  for  them  to 
force  me  to  go  on  alone, 'whom  they  knew  to  be 
entirely  unfamiliar  with  the  details  of  business,  who 
had  scarcely  in  my  whole  life  had  any  business 
transactions  except  with  themselves,  and  had  left 
those  entirely  in  their  hands,  who  had  not  indeed 
expected  to  appear  at  all  in  the  case,  and  had  only 
the  night  before  reluctantly  consented,  at  his  solici 
tations,  to  be  present  —  "If  you,  gentlemen,  think 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  163 

it  fair  and  honorable  to  insist  now,  at  the  last  hour, 
that  M.  N.  shall,  without  any  friend,  and  entirely 
unprepared,  meet  you  alone,  and  conduct  the  case 
herself,  she  will  do  so.  We  have  come  here  in 
good  faith  to  have  a  hearing,  and  if  such  are  the 
only  conditions  on  which  it  can  be  had,  we  will 
accept  them,  although  I  think  them  hard.  We  will 
accept  your  understanding  of  the  conditions  instead 
of  our  own.  Your  firm  shall  have  its  representa 
tive,  I  will  withdraw,  M.  N.  will  do  the  best  she 
can,  and  you  may  see  if 'you  can  make  anything 
out  of  it." 

Mr.  Parry  seemed  to  think,  like  David  Copper- 
field,  that  this  was  a  disagreeable  way  of  putting 
the  business,  and  wished  me  to  state  that  I  did  not 
feel  that  they  wished  to  take  any  advantage  of  me. 
Mr.  Dane  said,  "  I  do  not  know  what  M.  N.'s  feel 
ings  are.  My  opinion  is  understood,  and  I  shall 
state  it  whenever  and  wherever  I  choose." 

As  my  feelings  were  not  under  arbitration,  I 
declined,  through  Mr.  Dane,  to  make  any  declara- 
ration  concerning  them,  but  said  I  wished  to  go  on 
with  the  case.  Mr.  Dane  and  Mr.  Sudlow  then 
withdrew,  and  the  firm  were  reduced  to  the  pain 
ful  necessity  of  proceeding,  although  their  anxiety 
in  regard  to  my  feelings  was  not  relieved. 

They  did  not,  however,  proceed  according  to 
their  own  statement  of  what  had  been  their  un- 


164  A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

derstanding  concerning  the  mode  of  procedure. 
Before  Messrs.  Dane  and  Sudlow  withdrew,  Mr. 
Sudlow  said  that  they  were  to  be  represented  by 
one  member  of  their  firm,  and  that '  Mr.  Markman 
had  prepared  himself  for  such  representation.  Mr. 
Dane  had  distinctly  stated  that  he  withdrew  on  this 
understanding.  After  he  was  gone,  I  expected 
that  Messrs.  Hunt  &  Parry  would  also  withdraw, 
according  to  their  statement  of  their  original  inten 
tion,  and  its  acceptance  by  Mr.  Dane.  Instead  of 
which,  Mr.  Parry  came  to  me  and  asked  me  if  I 
had  any  preference  as  to  whether  the  whole  firm 
should  remain  or  only  one  member  of  it.  I  con 
ceived  that  this  matter  had  been  previously  settled 
by  express  stipulation,  that  they  had  no  right  to 
open  it  again,  and  place  the  decision  on  my  prefer 
ence.  I  disdained  to  receive  as  a  favor  what 
seemed  to  me  the  least  of  my  rights,  and  I  refused 
to  express  any  preference  about  it. 

Mr.  Parry  said,  if  I  had  no  preference,  of  course 
they  would  rather  stay,  and  they  all  stayed. 

The  following  paper  was  then  drawn  up  by  the 
referees  and  signed  by  Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co. 
and  myself:  — 

"  ATHENS,  April  22,  1769. 

"  There  being  a  controversy  between  Hunt, 
Parry,  &  Co.,  as  successors  to  Brummell  &  Hunt  of 
Athens,  and  M.  N.  of  Zoar,  in  regard  to  the 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  165 

amount  due  from  the  former  to  the  latter  for  pro 
ceeds  arising  from  the  publication  and  sale  of  the 
books  of  which  M.  N.  is  the  author,  it  is  hereby 
agreed  between  the  parties  to  the  controversy  to 
submit  the  points  in  dispute  to  George  W.  Hamp- 
den  and  James  Russell,  as  friendly  referees,  with 
the  right  to  the  referees  to  choose  a  third  as 
umpire,  either  on  the  general  merits  or  on  any 
specific  point  that  may  be  submitted  to  said  third 
person.  And  both  parties  to  this  agreement  hereby 
bind  themselves  to  accept  the  award  of  said  referees 
as  binding  and  conclusive,  without  reserving  any 
right  of  appeal  to  any  court  of  law. 

"  In  witness  whereof  this  agreement  is  signed  by 
both  parties  in  presence  of  the  referees,  to  whose 
custody  it  is  committed." 

As  I  did  not  intend  ever  again  to  sign  a  paper 
whose  import  I  did  not  fully  comprehend,  it  may 
be  supposed  that  I  listened  attentively  to  the 
reading  of  this  paper.  As  I  had  no  design  to  ap 
peal  to  any  court  of  law,  and  as  it  did  not  pre 
clude  me  from  appealing  to  the  court  to  which  I 
had  made  up  my  mind  to  appeal,  I  had  no  hesita 
tion  in  signing  it. 

The  case  being  thus  begun,  nothing  remained 
but  to  place  in  the  hands  of  the  referees  — 


166  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

The  "  entire  case  in  all  its  bearings "  between 
the  firm  of  Brummell  £  Hunt  and  M.  N.  —  as  pre 
sented  l>y  the  latter. 

Compiled  chiefly  from  the  original  documents. 

In  two  parts  :  — 
Part  First.  The  case  in  brief. 
Part  Second.   The  case  in  full. 
Each  part  complete  in  itself. 
The  part  to  be  selected  according  to  the  taste, 
object,  or  judgment  of  the  reader. 

October  22, 1768. 
THE    CASE    IN    BRIEF. 

When  Messrs.  Brummell  &  Hunt  published 
"  City  Lights,"  they  made  a  contract  to  pay  me  ten 
per  cent,  on  the  retail  price  of  the  book  after  the 
first  thousand  copies  were  sold.  I  did  not  know  that 
a  contract  was  necessary,  but  they  told  me  it  was, 
and  they  also  wrote  my  name  in  pencil  to  indicate 
where  I  was  to  write  it  in  ink. 

Afterwards  they  published  "  Alba  Dies  "  and 
"  Rocks  of  Offense,"  without  any  contract.  When 
"  Old  Miasmas  "  was  about  to  be  published,  it  oc 
curred  to  me  that  if  a  contract  were  necessary  in 
one  case,  it  was  in  another,  and  I  suggested  it  to 
Mr.  Hunt.  He  accordingly  had  a  new  contract 
made  out,  embracing  these  three  books,  in  which 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  167 

the  firm  agreed  to  pay  me  fifteen  cents  a  volume 
for  each  volume  sold.  I  think  it  must  have  been 
at  the  time  this  contract  was  made  out  —  but  I  can 
not  be  sure  as  to  the  time  —  that  Mr.  Hunt  told  me 
that  they  were  going  to  pay  me  a  fixed  sum,  fifteen 
cents  on  a  volume,  instead  of  a  percentage ;  that 
that  was  the  way  they  were  going  to  do  with  their 
authors,  on  account  of  fluctuations,  general  uncer 
tainties,  and  so  forth.  I  made  no  objection.  I  felt 
none.  I  assented  as  a  matter  of  course.  I  thought 
that  was  his  business  and  no  affair  of  mine.  I  should 
have  thought  it  intermeddling,  and  offensive  to 
friendship,  to  take  exception,  and  I  did  not  dream 
there  was  anything  to  take  exception  to.  I  had  per 
fect  faith  in  Mr.  Hunt,  and  reckoned  my  interests 
far  safer  in  his  hands  than  in  my  own. 

In  the  winter  of  1767-8,  I  suddenly  awoke  to 
the  fact  that  ten  per  cent,  was  the  ordinary  rate  of 
payment  to  the  author,  and  that  I  had  been  receiv 
ing  for  several  years  only  six  and  two-thirds  and 
seven  and  one -half  per  cent.  At  the  time  Mr. 
Hunt  changed  his  mode  of  payment,  my  books 
were  selling  at  a  dollar  and  fifty  cents  a  volume,  so 
that  ten  per  cent,  and  fifteen  cents  were  the  same. 
I  was  therefore  the  less  likely  to  take  exception  to 
the  change.  The  contract  embraced  "  Old  Mias 
mas,"  which  was  about  to  be  published,  but  when 
it  was  published  the  price  of  it  and  of  the  rest  of 


168  A  BATTLE   OF  THE   BOOKS. 

the  books  was  put  at  two  dollars,  and  has  remained 
so  ever  since. 

All  the  books  that  have  been  published  for  me 
by  Messrs.  H.,  P.,  &  Co.,  since  "  Old  Miasmas," 
have  been  published  without  contract.  On  each 
of  these  books,  five  in  number,  they  have  paid  me 
fifteen  cents  a  volume,  except  "  Holidays,"  on  which 
they  paid  ten  cents  a  volume.  "  Holidays  "  was 
sold  at  retail  for  one  dollar  and  a  half;  "The 
Rights  of  Men  "  for  one  dollar  and  a  half;  the 
others  were  at  the  price  of  two  dollars.  "  The 
Rights  of  Men"  was  not  published  until  after  I 
had  made  objection  to  the  low  price  I  had  been 
receiving. 

Pearvilles  and  Troubadours  of  Corinth,  and  pub 
lishers  of  Athens,  have  told  me  that  ten  per  cent, 
on  the  retail  price  is  the  customary  pay  of  authors. 

I  claim  that  Messrs.  Brummell  &  Hunt  should 
pay  me  the  difference  between  what  they  have 
paid  and  what  ten  per  cent,  would  have  been,  and 
that  on  all  books  sold  in  the  future,  they  should  pay 
ten  per  cent.  I  agreed  to  less,  in  full  faith  in  their 
uprightness,  and  in  the  belief,  based  on  Mr.  Hunt's 
statement,  and  on  my  own  high  opinion  of  their 
justice  and  liberality,  that  I  was  faring  just  as  oth 
ers  fared. 

Messrs.  Brummell  &  Hunt  refuse  to  pay  me 
more  than  six  and  two-thirds  and  seven  and  a  half 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE   BOOKS.  169 

per  cent,  either  for  the  past  or  the  future,  except 
on  "  The  Rights  of  Men." 

To  which  I  had  added,  February  26,  1769  :  — 
"  I  claim  now,  after  fourteen  months  of  what 
theologians  call   '  waiting   in    the   use   of  means,' 
that  they  should  reimburse  me  for  the  time  and 
trouble  it  has  cost  me  to  enforce  my  claims." 

THE    CASE    IN   FULL. 

The  case  in  full  was  the  history  just  given  ;  com 
piled,  as  its  perusal  shows,  from  various  motives, 
at  various  times,  for  various  persons.  A  few  let 
ters  between  Mr.  Dane  and  myself  have  been 
inserted  to  meet  sundry  points  which  afterwards 
came  up.  A  few  slight  verbal  alterations  have 
been  made,  and  some  elegant  extracts  from  the 
newspapers  have  been  introduced.  Otherwise,  the 
statement  here  made,  covering  the  time  from  Oc 
tober,  176T,  to  February,  1769,  is  the  one  which 
was  presented  to  and  acted  upon  by  the  referees. 
It  was  indeed  a  formidable  object,  and  those  un 
happy  gentlemen  may  be  pardoned  if,  for  a  moment, 
as  they  held  it  in  their  hands,  they  looked  into 
each  other's  faces  in  dismay.  But  it  gives  me 
pleasure  to  add  for  the  credit  of  our  common  hu 
manity,  that  they  met  their  fate  like  men,  and  by 
a  well-organized  system  of  "  ride  and  tie  "  arrived 
at  their  journey's  end  in  a  much  fresher  condition 
than  could  have  been  expected  of  mere  mortals. 


170  A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

When  the  reading  of  this  document  was  com 
pleted,  Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  took  up  the 
parable,  Mr.  Parry  being  the  first  spokesman. 
And  here  I  may  say,  that  notwithstanding  their 
assertion  that  they  had  expected  to  be  represented 
by  one  of  their  firm,  Mr.  Markman,  and  that  on 
such  expectation  Mr.  Markman  had  prepared  a 
presentation  of  the  case,  when  I  gave  up  my  ar 
rangements  and  consented  to  adopt  theirs,  their 
own  seemed  to  have  been  cliano-ed.  Instead  of 

O 

one  member  having  it  in  charge,  they  all  had 
a  share  in  it,  perhaps  on  the  Pauline  theory, 
that  if  one  member  suffer,  all  the  members  must 
suffer  with  him.  Mr.  Parry  began,  speaking  from 
notes.  Mr.  Hunt  followed,  and  Mr.  Markman 
brought  up  the  rear  with  day-book  and  ledger. 
Each  one  seemed  to  have  his  part  carefully  marked 
out  and  assigned  to  him,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for 
the  assertion  that  they  had  intended  to  be  repre 
sented  by  one,  I  should  never  have  suspected 
that  the  subsequent  management  of  this  case  by 
all  three,  was  a  sudden  and  unaccountable  after 
thought. 

Mr.  Parry  began  by  giving  a  general  outline  of 
the  trouble  as  seen  from  the  "  Firm "  point  of 
sight.  He  admitted  the  pleasant  relations  in  which 
we  had  previously  stood.  It  seemed  that  in  the 
latter  part  of  1767,-  I  had  something  of  a  disap- 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  171 

pointment  that  the  balance  due  me  was  not  larger, 
and  cast  about  to  see  how  it  could  be  increased,  that 
the  Segregationalissuemost  alleged  that  a  larger 
sum  was  generally  paid  than  I  had  received,  and 
Mr.  Jackson  seemed  to  confirm  this  statement ; 
that  Mr.  Dane,  to  whom  also  I  had  had  recourse, 
had  not  alleviated  my  uneasiness,  but  had  rather 
poisoned  my  mind  against  them,  as  could  be  seen 
by  the  attitude  he  had  assumed  here  this  morning, 
saying  that  he  had  never  believed  I  should  have  a 
hearing,  and  so  forth ;  that  'as  a  result  of  it  all,  I 
considered  that  I  had  a  claim  for  additional  money, 
a  claim  that  lay  back  of  the  contracts,  as  I  had 
said ;  that  I  believed  they  had  paid  me  less  than 
they  paid  others,  and  in  short  brought  against  them 
a  charge  of  general  disingenuousness. 

In  replying  to  Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.,  I  was 
obliged  to  omit  allusion  to  sundry  points  of  minor 
importance,  out  of  a  tenderness  to  the  referees  — 
a  tenderness  of  which,  probably,  until  this  moment, 
they  had  no  suspicion.  To  the  readers  of  this 
narrative  I  have  no  tenderness  whatever,  since  the 
matter  lies  in  their  own  hands,  and  they  can  dis 
miss  it  at  pleasure.  I  shall  therefore  touch  upon 
various  omitted  points  while  sketching  the  outlines 
of  the  defense,  and  will  say  here  that  Mr.  Parry's 
declaration  regarding  the  cause  of  "The  Great 
Awakening,"  is  strictly  true.  My  eyes  were  not 


172  A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

opened  by  any  profound  reflections  on  the  "  Origin 
of  Evil,"  or  the  "Analogy  of  Religion,  Natural 
and  Revealed,  to  the  Constitution  and  Course  of 
Nature,"  but  simply  by  the  ignoble  circumstance 
that  I  wanted  money  in  my  own  miserable  purse. 
The  only  consolation  to  be  found  for  this  shameful 
disclosure,  is  the  recollection  of  that  three  pence  a 
pound  on  tea  which  produced  George  Washington 
and  the  great  American  Republic.  I  have,  how 
ever,  in  mitigation  of  this  sordidness,  brought  for 
ward  one  or  two  letters,  which  show  that  I  wanted 
the  money  for  others  —  the  inference  naturally  be 
ing  that  I  was  not  in  so  imminent  danger  of  star 
vation  that  the  difference  between  meum  and  tuum 
was  in  my  mind  entirely  obliterated. 

Several  letters  between  Mr.  Dane  and  myself 
have  also  been  introduced  for  the  purpose  of  show 
ing  to  what  extent  my  mind  was  susceptible  of 
being  poisoned,  with  what  ingredients  the  attempt 
was  made,  and  how  far  it  assimilated  and  how  far 
rejected  these  ingredients.  My  opinion  is,  that  if 
such  poisoning  be  a  capital  offense,  my  "  attorney  " 
and  myself  must  die  together,  for  I  fear  we  are 
equally  guilty. 

So  far  as  Mr.  Jackson  was  concerned,  Mr.  Parry 
said  that  he  had  been  unsuccessful  in  business,  was 
not  now  a  regular  publisher,  and  he  did  not  think 
his  testimony  of  what  was  a  custom  several  years 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  173 

ago  was  available  in  deciding  what  was  the  custom 
now.  Regarding  Messrs.  Troubadour,  Pearvilles, 
and  others,  he  preserved  a  discreet  silence,  but 
objected  to  the  introduction  of  the  testimony  of 
other  publishers,  as  Messrs.  H.,  P.,  &  Co.  con 
ducted  their  business  with  their  authors  alone, 
without  thinking  it  necessary  to  consult  other  pub 
lishers.  Unless,  therefore,  I  insisted  upon  other 
publishers  being  brought  in,  they  should  prefer  to 
have  them  kept  out.  In  reply  to  a  question,  Mr. 
Parry  said  he  did  not  know  what  was  the  custom 
of  other  publishers  in  regard  to  paying  authors. 
Now  it  was  a  very  important  part  of  my  plan  to 
have  other  publishers  appealed  to,  but  I  was  not  in 
a  condition  to  insist  upon  anything.  I  did  not 
know  what  to  do  with  them,  even  if  I  had  them 
there.  I  certainly  could  not  put  them  through  a 
catechism,  and  I  had  no  one  to  do  it  for  me.  So 
I  said  nothing,  and  the  publishers  were  of  course 
ruled  out  —  by  default,  is  it  ? 

Mr.  Parry  deprecated  any  attributing  of  hos 
tility  to  them.  They  had  been  desirous  to  have 
the  matter  amicably  settled,  so  desirous  that  they 
had  even  offered  to  refer  it  to  various  friends  of  my 
own,  with  one  of  whom  they  had  no  acquaintance 
at  all,  with  another  of  whom  they  had  but  a  slight 
acquaintance,  but  whom  they  thought  competent  to 
settle  it ;  and  they  had  also  offered  to  pay  me  ten 


174  A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

per  cent,  on  all  future  sales,  all  of  which  I  had 
declined. 

With  regard  to  the  question  of  fraud,  Mr.  Parry 
would  say  in  a  general  way,  that  I  went  to  them 
an  unknown  author,  very  urgent  to  publish  "  City 
Lights,"  that  I  had  a  great  deal  of  confidence  in 
them,  spoke  emphatically  of  the  important  advan 
tage  to  me  of  being  published  by  Brummell  & 
Hunt ;  that  in  short,  I  came  to  them  in  such  a 
way  as  almost  to  hold  out  to  them  a  temptation  to 
defraud  me ;  so  that  if  they  had  been  inclined  to  it, 
they  would  have  been  likely  to  do  it  then.  He 
produced  the  following  extracts  from  letters  written 
by  me  to  Mr.  Hunt,  to  sustain  his  charge.  And 
if  the  printing  of  these  letters  seems  somewhat  ap 
palling,  let  me  assure  the  objector  that  it  is  a  pleas 
ing  entertainment  compared  with  the  sensation  of 
hearing  them  read  before  five  men,  two  of  whom 
are  indifferent  to  you,  three  hostile,  and  four 
strangers. 

"  Kits,  cats,  sacks,  and  wives, 
How  many  were  there  going  to  St.  Ives."  * 

I  am  moved  here  to  say,  that  those  persons  who 
during  the  present  century  have  been  annoyed  by 
letters  from  this  now  repentant  and  remorseful 
writer,  may  find  ample  revenge  for  all  their  dis- 

i  The  editor  considers  this  levity  highly  unbecoming   so  solemn 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  175 

comfort  in  a  knowledge  of  the  manner  in  which 
these  letters  have  returned  to  plague  the  inventor. 
The  first  is  dated  April  14,  1762. 

"  I  hope  this  letter  sounds  light  and  airy  to 
you.  I  assure  you  it  is  very  ghastly  joking  for 
me.  I  am  burdened  with  a  terrible  secret  which 
I  wish  to  confide  to  you,  at  the  risk  of  losing 
your  complaisance  forever.  I  dread  to  come  at  it, 
but  I  don't  see  how  I  can  beat  about  the  bush  any 
longer.  I  am  not  at  work  on  anything  for  the 
4  Adriatic.'  You  would  not  print  my  papers,  and 
you  would  not  answer  my  letters.  So  Satan  sub 
sidized  my  idle  hands,  and  I  thought  I  would  make 
a  book.  So  I  made  a  book.  It  is  not  about  the 
war,  nor  the  times,  nor  anything  sensible.  It  is  not 
a  novel,  nor  a  history,  nor  a  poem,  nor  a  criticism, 
nor  a  volume  of  sermons.  Somehow  it  does  not 
look  like  a  book,  nor  sound  like  a  book,  nor  act 
like  a  book,  but  it  is  a  book.  I  can  make  c  my 
davy '  on  that.  There  is  a  title  and  a  place  for  a 
preface,  and  an  introduction,  and  I  can  put  in  an 
appendix  if  I  wish,  and  explanatory  notes  and  a 
glossary,  and  errata,  and  if  you  will  publish  it  I  will 
give  you  the  copyright  and  the  premium,  and  the 
patent,  and  the  monopoly,  and  all  the  dividends, 
and  if  there  is  anything  else,  that  —  its  title  is 
4  City  Lights.'  It  is  blocked  out  in  twelve  chap 
ters. 


176  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

"  '  1.  Moving '  —  That  gets  us  out  of  the  old 
house  into  the  new  one,  and  gives  us  a  local  habita 
tion  and  a  starting-point.  I  wrote  it  for  the  A.  M. 
but  you  stunned  me  so  with  hurling  back  my  paper 
pellets  at  my  head  that  I  did  not  dare  try  it  again. 

"  '  2.  The  Bank  ' —  That  means  a  grass  bank,  not 
a  money  bank.  That  has  been  printed. 

"  4  3.  My  Garden  '  —  That  you  have  heard  of. 
That  was  what  I  wanted  the  proof-sheets  for,  and 
you  may  conceive  how  guilty  I  felt.  It  seemed  all 
the  while  like  when  Joab  said  to  Amasa,  '  Art 
thou  in  health,  my  brother  ?  '  and  took  him  by  the 
beard  with  the  right  hand  to  kiss  him,  and  smote 
him  under  the  fifth  rib,  —  the  wretch  !  But  you  see 
I  was  forced  to  be  wily.  If  you  had  known  that  I 
was  conspiring  against  your  peace  of  mind,  of 
course  you  would  not  have  put  the  weapon  into  my 
hand.  So  I  had  to  take  you  by  the  beard  tenderly, 
or  I  should  not  have  got  the  fifth  rib  at  all,  and 
that  is  the  backbone  of  my  book. 

"  '  4.  Men  and  Women  '  —  Been  printed. 
.  "  '  5.  Tommy  '  —  Been  printed. 

"  '  6.  Boston  and  home  again  '  —  Been  printed 
—  personal  adventures  of  a  rustic  in  the  city. 

"  '  7.  Friendship  '  —  In  your  hands  —  will  be 
when  you  get  this. 

"  4  8.  Dog-days '  —  Been  printed. 

"  <  9.  Fading  as  a  leaf  — Or  something  of  that 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  177 

sort  —  knocks  the  bottom  all  out  of  the  autumnal, 
sentimental  kind  of  moral  reflections  —  been  print 
ed. 

"  1 10.  Winter  '  —  Snow  and  coal-fires  —  been 
printed. 

"  '  11.  My  Flower-bed '  —  A  success,  to  offset 
the  failure  to  '  My  Garden.' 

"  '  12.  Happiest  Days.' 

"  Now,  the  question  is,  will  you  let  me  send  it  to 
you  ?  You  see  it  is  almost  all  in  print,  so  it  will 
take  but  a  minute  to  run  it  over  —  a  longish  kind 
of  a  minute,  of  course.  I  have  not  the  least  idea 
whether  it  is  worth  , publishing  or  not.  I  don't 
want  it  published  unless  it  will  reflect  credit  on  the 
literature  of  the  country.  Now,  may  I  be  forgiven 
for  telling  a  lie  ;  but  I  don't  want  it  published  if 
it  will  reflect  discredit —  I  will  stick  to  that.  I  don't 
want  it  published  unless  it  will  be  read  and  liked  by 
cultivated  people.  I  don't  want  it  to  be  at  the 
level  of  school-girls  and  shop-boys.  I  want  it  to 

be  such  a  book  as  or  or  

or  or  might  take  into  the  country, 

not  for  the  thought  or  the  theory,  but  for  amuse 
ment,  and  such  as  would  amuse  them;  such  as 
Englishmen  might  read  and  value  for  its  little 
side-lights  thrown  on  American  country  life.  I 
don't  aim  to  do  anything  above  amusement,  and  if 
it  wont  do  that  it  is  a  failure,  for  there  is  nothing 

12 


178  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

else  for  it  to  do.  You  see  it  was  not  written  with 
any  view  to  a  book.  I  suppose  I  have  enough 
things  printed  to  make  a  dozen  books,  and  I  have 
taken  out  enough  for  one  about  the  size  of  4  Sir 
Thomas  Browne.'  So  far  as  the  people  I  write 
for  are  concerned,  I  think  now  is  as  good  a  time  as 
any.  There  is  a  kind  of  hiatus  in  book-making, 
and  that  gives  me  a  chance  for  a  hearing.  My  au 
dience  is  more  at  leisure  now  and  not  much  poorer. 
It  is  specially  adapted  to  the  times  in  that  it  has  not 
anything  to  do  with  them,  and  so  will  be  a  recrea 
tion  if  it  is  not  a  bore.  I  should  not  think  it  would 
sell,  I  must  say,  for  there  is  not  anything  of  it. 
Still,  all  the  parts  of  it  that  have  been  printed  have 

4  taken '  —  I  don't  understand  why 

"  I  have  a  certain  vivacity  of  style  which  would 
be  well  enough  if  I  had  anything  solid  underneath  ; 
but  I  have  no  thought,  no  depth,  no  severe  and 
careful  culture,  no  comprehensiveness,  no  substance, 
nothing  to  raise  me  above  the  penny-a-liners,  ex 
cept  perhaps  the  matter  of  vivacity,  or  whatever 
it  is  —  but  that  is  nothing  to  depend  upon  —  no  re 
source,  no  capital.  My  chief  talent  consists  in  raising 
great  expectations  —  which  will  turn  out  like  Pip's, 
I  expect.  It  is  no  fault  of  mine.  I  do  conscien 
tiously  the  best  I  can  ;  you  are  an  illustration  of  this 
thing.  You  expect  '  A  number  one  '  things  of  me. 
But  you  have  no  ground  for  it.  I  have  sent  you 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  179 

my  '  A  number  one  '  things  already,  and  you  see 
they  are  not  4  up  to  the  mark.'  But  they  are  the 
very  best  I  can  do  under  the  circumstances.  What 
right  have  you  then  to  expect  anything  better  ?  I 
consider  it  a  great  misfortune  that  somehow  my 
performances  seem  to  give  a  promise  that  is  entirely 
unwarrantable.  O  well,  I  must  stop  some  time,  so 
I  suppose  I  might  as  well  stop  here.  All  is,  may 
I  send  the  thing  to  you?  It  is  all  ready,  only  I 
have  to  take  it  to  some  book-binder  somewhere  to 
have  the  things  pasted  in.  I  hope  I  do  not  annoy 
you  by  asking  you  —  not  much  I  mean  ;  of  course 
it  must  annoy  you  a  little  —  I  assure  you  you  need 
not  have  the  slightest  feeling  about  saying  no.  It 
would  be  no  kindness  to  me  to  suffer  me  to  disgrace 
myself  or  my  country.  There  is  only  one  sin  that 
I  will  never  forgive.  If  you  ever  tell  anybody, 
my  wrath  will  kindle  against  you  into  a  perpetual 
fire ;  and  you  know  about  furies,  and  scorned 
women,  and  the  wicked  place  !  I  hope  this  will 
get  at  you  in  some  little  crack  between  two  '  mad  '- 
nesses,  but  if  it  does  not,  pray  don't  turn  '  mad '  at 
me.  I  can  bear  anything  but  to  be  snapped  up.  I 
wonder  if  you  would  be  more  likely  to  be  pleased  if 
I  had  stopped  before  ;  if  so,  you  can  just  turn  back 
to  the  place  where  your  temper  began  to  crack, 
and  make  believe  4  Yours,  respectfully,'  came  there. 
But  you  have  been  so  generous  hitherto  that  I  am 


180  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

afraid  I  perhaps  presume  too  far  —  now  I  am  sure 
that  compliment  is  very  well  turned,  seeing  that 
kind  of  thing  is  not  in  my  line  — but  the  fact  is  I 
want  you  to  stay  good-humored  so  much  that  I 
would  say  anything ! 

Yours  very  truly,  M.  N." 

The  letters  from  Mr.  Hunt  in  reply  to  mine,  are 
inserted  here  for  a  better  understanding  of  my  let 
ters,  and  to  preserve  the  unity  of  the  drama.  As 
I  did  not  anticipate  the  appearance  of  mine  be 
fore  the  referees,  Mr.  Hunt's  were  not  arranged 
with  reference  to  them,  but  have  been  placed  here 
since.  Several  sentences  concerning  magazine 
articles  are  quoted,  to  show  that  though  I  had  not 
printed  a  book  I  was  not  wholly  unknown  as  an 
author  at  the  time  of  the  publication  of  "  City 
Lights,"  and  that  therefore  the  risk  was  not  quite 
so  great  as  one  would  perhaps  judge  from  Mr.  Par 
ry's  statement,  which  will  presently  appear. 

MR.  HUNT  TO  M.  N. 

"  Send  along  the  book  by  all  means,  and  I  will 

give  it  early  attention A  book  from  your 

hand  is  worthy  attention,  and  it  shall  have  it  from 
yours  truly.  '* 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  181 

APRIL   20,  1762. 

"  I  have  read  '  Moving  '  and  the  '  Friendship  ' 
paper  to-day,  both  of  which  I  shall  be  glad  to  print 

in  the  Magazine  if  you  will  let  me As  soon 

as  I  can  find  more  time  I  will  make  up  my  mind 
about  the  book." 

APRIL  25,  1762. 

"  I  wish  to  begin  at  once  to  set  up  the  copy,  and 
no  time  should  be  lost  in  waiting.  October  will 
soon  be  here  ! 

"  I  think  we  shall  be  able  to  get  into  a  volume 
your  articles,  in  form  like  '  Old  Sir  Thomas.'  At 
any  rate  I  shall  try  to  do  so." 

APRIL  29. 

"  Why  do  you  hop  about  so  when  you  attempt 
an  epistle  ?  I  can't  find  the  place.  Now  you  are 
on  the  right  side  of  a  sheet,  and,  presto  I  I  can't 
tell  next  where  you  are.  A  reader  of  your  letters 
ought  to  stand  on  his  head  half  the  time.  Page 
two  is  nowhere  to  be  found,  without  twisting  the 
spinal  apparatus  fearfully.  Why  don't  you  have  a 
plan  and  stick  to  it  ?  Or  are  you  a  law  unto  your 
self  ?  (See  Hebrews). 

"  Let  me  tell  you  what  I  would  like  to  do :  Print 
in  the  Magazine  several  of  the  articles  in  your  pro 
posed  volume,  postponing  the  publication  in  book 


182  A   BATTLE    OF   THE   BOOKS. 

form  for  the  present.     '  Moving/  and  4  Friends  and 

Friendship,'  I  certainly  wish  for  the  Magazine 

•  •  •  •  Your  book  will  keep,  wont  it  ?  Meantime 
the  papers,  as  printed  in  the  "  Adriatic,"  will  not 
badly  advertise  the  coming  volume.  Do  you  agree 
with  me  ?  .... 

"  Your  '  My  Garden,'  is  a  hit  number  one. 
Crowds  of  inquiries  for  the  author's  name  beseech 
me,  but  I  cry  '  mum  '  to  the  myriads." 


M.  N.  TO  MR.  HUNT,  MAY  1,  1762. 

"Can't  you  read  figures,  dear?  Don't  you  know 
a  five  when  you  see  it?  Aren't  you  able  to  tell  a 
two  from  a  four  unless  they  are  labelled  ?  I  fondly 
believed  you  were,  but  as  indications  point  the 
other  way,  I  will  have  everything  in  a  right  line 
hereafter,  so  that  I  shall  just  have  to  drop  you  into 
the  groove  at  the  beginning  and  you  will  spin  along 
of  yourself  to  the  end.  I  am  your  serf  and  slave 
—  till  I  get  the  upper  hands  of  you,  which  I  shall 
one  day' — I  always  do,  sooner  or  later.  Don't  be 
frightened,  though.  I  shall  roar  you  as  gently  as  a 
sucking-dove.  And  please  remember  that  Hebrews 
is  not  Romans  —  or,  as  one  cannot  remember  what 
he  never  knew,  please  be  informed.  Aren't  you 
glad  you  have  somebody  who  can  always  set  you 
right? 

"  There  is  one  thing  about  my  letters  though; — • 


A   BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.  183 

when  you  do  find  the  place  you  know  where  you 
are.  Yours  I  don't.  Now  what  do  you  mean? 
Do  you  mean  that  my  book  is  not  good  enough  to 
publish  ?  If  you  do,  why  don't  you  say  so  ? 

'•'  When  I  was  in  Congress  anything  that  was  in 
definitely  postponed  was  as  good  as  lost.  I  wish 
yoi  would  say,  straight  as  an  arrow,  just  what  you 
mem.  You  need  not  be  afraid  of  wounding  my 
feelngs.  I  have  boxed  them  up  in  ice  and  saw 
dust  and  set  them  on  the  top  shelf  till  such  time  as 
my  brtunes  shall  permit  me  to  indulge  in  such 
luxuies.  I  am  rhinocerine  and  pachydermatous. 
Lay  »n  Macbeth,  or  Duff,  or  whoever  you  are. 

"  ^ou  see  it  is  absurd  for  you  to  talk  about  post 
poning  the  publication  of  a  general  kind  of  book  if 
it  is  vorth  publicating  at  all.  If  it  were  what  I 
want  i  to  be,  you  would  rectangle  it  up  in  ten  min 
utes  aid  have  it  out.  If  it  is  not  what  I  want  it  to 
be,  I  cbn't  want  it  published  at  all.  If  it  is  only 
so-so,  jay-the-way-y,  very  good,  I  will  have  none 
of  it.  I  want  it  to  be  triumphantly  good.  I 
don't  wint  any  drawn  battle.  I  want  an  uncondi 
tional  arrender,  with  fort,  guns,  and  ammunition. 
If  I  cant  have  that  I  don't  want  anything.  Now 
can  I  hsre  that  ?  You  tell  me.  I  know  you  know. 
I  have  een  flattered  to  death  all  my  life.  .  .  . 
If  the  bok  is  coarse,  and  violent,  and  insipid,  and 
diffuse,  ad  superficial,  and  egotistical,  and  worth- 


184     A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

less,  say  so.     That  is  just  what  I  am  afraid  it  is, 
and  it  keeps  me  awake  nights. 

"  It  occurs  to  me  that  possibly  you  may  have  so 
much  on  your  hands  that  you  cannot  publish  it.    /I 
don't  believe  that,  though.    People  can  always  fiid 
time  to  do  what  they  will  to  do,  —  any  way  I  c^n, 
and  I  am  a  female  Atlas.     But  if  it .  were  so,  ^nd 
you  would  tell  me  that  you  thought  the  book  yas 
good,  I  would  get  somebody  else  to  publish  itj   I 
should  not  like  to  do  it  to  be  sure.     I  have  seijmy 
heart  on  your  publishing  my  first  book.     You  see, 
as  Mrs.  Browning  says,  i  I  love  high  though  ^live 
low.'     You  know  if  you  aim  at  the  sun  you  ^on't 
probably  hit  it,  but  you  will  hit  higher  thai]  you 
would  if  you  made  your   target  out  of  a  icrub 
oak.     I  don't  want  to  go  into  the  world  through 
the  back  door.     I  want  to  go  in,  sir,  by  the  main 
entrance !   with  drums   beating  and  colors  jying  I 
with  body-guard  on  each  side,  and  carriages  irawn 
up  in  line  !    That  means  you  —  Brummell  a  Hunt 
is  the  triumphal  arch  and  the  Seventh  Regiment  I 
But   you  see  I  am  tired  to  death  and  diiust  of 
waiting.    It  is  three  years  now  since  I  took  jo  writ 
ing  in  good  earnest,  and  all  this  while  I  hafe  been 
burrowing  under  ground.     It  is  almost  t]O  years 
since  I  sent '  My  Garden '  to  the  '  A.  M.'    Tro  years 
apiece  for  the  other  two  things  will  be  folr  years, 
and  by  that  time  I  shall  be  a  coral  reef,  win  all  the 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.      185 

pulp  of  my  soul  dried  up,  and  nothing  left  but  the 
dead  shell.  You  understand  I  am  not  impatient  of 
preparation.  I  am  not  only  willing  but  eager  to 
work.  If  I  thought  I  could  be  more  worthy  by 
waiting ;  if  I  thought  crudeness  would  mellow,  I 
would  wait ;  but  the  book  is  done.  It  is  not  a 
question  of  improving  it,  but  to  be  or  not  to  be. 

"  It  would  be  a  great  disappointment,  and  I  am 
sure  a  positive  loss  to  me,  not  to  have  you  publish 
the  book  if  it  is  fit  to  publish.  You  would  give  me 
a  prestige  which  I  assure  you  I  have  sense  enough 
to  value.  And  yet  will  not  the  book,  if  it  is  good, 
make  its  own  way,  even  if  it  should  be  born  in  a 
garret?  You  see  I  look  at  this  from  my  standing- 
point  only,  for  you  of  course  are  too  well  estab 
lished  to  be  disgraced  by  my  failure  or  illustrated 
by  my  success.  I  am  the  only  one  affected,  don't 
you  see  ?  If  I  fail  it  will  nerve  me.  If  I  succeed 
it  will  give  me  a  point  of  support.  You  under 
stand,  by  success  I  don't  mean  that  I  desire  to 
make  a  sensation.  The  public,  whose  countenance 
I  court,  would  be  comprised  in  a  hundred  men 
and  women.  If  I  should  secure  their  suffrage, 
the  rest  of  the  world  might  go  whistle.  If  the 
hundred  put  me  on  the  pedestal,  the  ten  millions 
cannot  pull  me  down,  for  it  is  quality  and  not 
quantity  that  leads  in  this  world,  no  matter  what 
the  world  thinks. 


186      A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

"  I  want  to  be  out  too,  because  that  thing  is 
only  the  inch  of  an  ell.  If  that  succeeds  I  have 
half  a  dozen  others  — 4  City  Lights,'  —  in  the  same 
style  —  and  '  Rocks  of  Offense,'  which  is  to  put 
everybody  right  in  religious  matters.  You  don't 
know  what  my  prophetic  style  is  ?  I  tell  you 
it  leaves  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah  nowhere !  Then 
there  is  '  Night  Caps '  for  children,  and  '  Holiday 
Stories'  for  all  the  holidays,  and  'Stories  of  the 
Old  School-House,'  etc.  I  have  sent  those  to  the 
Tract  Society  and  all  the  Eleemosynary  Institu 
tions,  but  they  were  not  considered  pious  enough, 
and  I  am  afraid  you  profane  establishments  would 
think  they  were  too  pious,  so  betwixt  the  clergy 
and  the  laity  I  should  come  to  the  ground  with  a 
thud,  from  wrhich,  like  Antaeus,  I  always  gather 
strength. 

"  I  don't  believe  you  half  read  my  letters.  I 
don't  know  that  I  blame  you,  but  it  leads  you  into 
obvious  mistakes.  You  say  you  want  to  print  sev 
eral  of  the  articles  —  two  certainly.  Goosey-goosey- 
gander,  where  shall  I  wander ;  did  not  I  tell  you 
that  all  but  those  two  had  been  printed  before,  and 
the  last  one  which  you  had  rejected?  Why  do 
you  talk?  ....  I  am  going  to  Athens  to  buy 
a  new  dress  the  first  pleasant  day  of  next  week 
after  Monday.  Would  you  be  willing  to  send  those 
two  papers  around  to ?  I  can  look  them  over 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  187 

and  manipulate  them,  and  return  them  the  next 
day.  If  you  obey  the  impulse  of  the  natural  heart, 
unmodified  by  pressure  of  editorial  duties,  you  will 
tell  me,  as  General  Taylor  told  Santa  Anna,  '  Come 
and  take  them.'  And  I  would  be  glad  to  do  it  and 
talk  about  these  matters  instead  of  writing.  But 
you  must  know  that  I  cannot  talk  —  I  say  what 
I  don't  mean  and  I  mean  what  I  don't  say,  and  so 
an  interview  would  be  entirely  inconclusive  and 
unsatisfactory. 

"  You  will  understand  from  this  brief  epistle  that 
it  is  not  the  book  that  won't  keep  so  much  as  it  is 
my  own  self. 

"  If  I  have  said  anything  here  that  I  ought  not  to 
say,  pray  make  believe  that  —  there,  I  just  remem 
ber  that  my  little  book  is  not  '  Night-Caps '  but 
4  Make-Believes  '  —  there  is  a  book  '  Night-Caps 
already.  Well,  what  I  was  going  to  say  is  —  make 
believe  I  have  not  said  it.  I  am  writing  in  greatest 
stress  of  time,  for  our  mail  goes  at  unearthly  hours, 
and  I  cannot  stop  to  be  proper.  I  wish  you  would 
give  me  a  general  absolution,  retro-  and  pro-spec- 
tive,  till  this  business  is  over.  Yours  very  truly. 

MR.  HUNT  TO  M.  N. 

"  I  see  we  must  speak  by  the  card  when  we 
write  to  Miss  Wont-understand. 


188  A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

"  This  then,  is  what  I  wished  to  say  in  my  last 
clear  and  felicitous  epistle. 

"  Of  course  your  book  ca'nnot  be  published  till 
the  articles  I  propose  to  print  in  the  A.  M.  have 
appeared  there.  This  is  what  I  meant  by  postpon 
ing  the  issue  of  the  volume.  I  wished  to  say  that, 
B.  &  H.  would  print  your  book,  certainly,  but  the 
time  when  must  at  present  be  unsettled  for  the 
reason  above  given.  I  have  read  the  articles  now 
and  like  them  hugely.  They  are  capital  stuff  for  a 
book,  full  of  all  readable  qualities 

"  I  will  not  eat  you  if  you  call  in  here  when  you 
come  to  town,  but  you  must  have  your  own  way." 

All  the  confidence,  and  all  the  respect  for  the 
house  of  Brummell  &  Hunt,  which  these  letters 
indicate,  I  not  only  admit,  but  I  introduced  my 
case  by  avowing  that  I  thought  them  the  head  and 
front  of  all  publishing  houses. 

With  regard  to  the  exemption  of  fifteen  hun 
dred  as  the  first  edition  of  "  City  Lights,"  Mr. 
Parry  said  that  the  word  edition  meant  nothing  as 
to  number.  It  meant  simply  a  single  issue.  In 
reply  to  a  question,  he  said  he  did  not  know  what 
was  the  usage  of  publishers  in  this  regard.  They 
had  sometimes  exempted  as  many  as  two  thousand, 
and  had  known  cases  in  which  five  thousand  had 
been  exempted,  and;  I  understood  him  to  say,  had 


A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  189 

done  it  themselves.  One  thousand,  he  said,  was 
the  usual  number.  Being  asked  what  would  be 
his  own  understanding  of  an  edition,  if  nothing 
were  specified,  he  said  he  would  frankly  admit  that 
he  should  suppose  it  meant  one  thousand ;  that 
when  any  larger  number  than  a  thousand  was 
exempted,  it  was  their  custom  always  to  specify 
the  number ;  that  he  did  not  know  why  it  was  not 
done  now,  and  presumed  this  was  the  only  time 
they  had  exempted  more  than  a  thousand  with 
out  specifying  the  number.  The  reason  of  this 
large  exemption  was  that  there  was  so  much  risk  in 
publishing  a  new  book,  and  that  this  book  was 
published  in  a  style  that  was  unusually  expensive. 
It  cost  a  great  deal  more  than  any  other  on  their 
list ;  that  there  was  no  prescribed  usage  in  such 
matters,  and  they  could  have  exempted  more,  but 
had  no  desire  to  do  so.  I  had  said  that  if  it  were 
to  cost  more,  they  should  have  told  me.1  They 
had  letters  of  mine  showing  that  I  did  know  it  cost 
more,  but  that  I  was  so  desirous  to  have  it  printed 
in  this  way,  that,  in  my  own  language,  which  Mr. 
Markman  read  and  Mr.  Hunt  repeated  with  an  air 
which  showed  that  whatever  literature  had  gained, 
the  stage  lost  its  chief  ornament  when  Mr.  Hunt 

l  I  think  this  matter  in  detail  came  up  subsequently  in  connection 
with  the  diminished  price  paid  me  for  copyright,  but  as  it  belongs  here 
also,  I  put  it  in  all  at  once. 


190  A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

went  into  the  book  trade,  "I  went  down  on  my 
knees  to  you  to  have  it  like  Sir  Thomas  Browne." 

In  my  original  statement  I  had  said,  "When 
the  first  book  was  to  be  published,  Mr.  Hunt  asked 
me  what  style  I  should  like,  and  suggested  that 
of  the  '  City  Curate.'  I  preferred  4  Sir  Thomas 
Browne.'  He  made  no  objection,  nor  even  hinted 
that  it  was  more  expensive  than  the  other.  [Then 
came  the  quotations.]  "  I  do  not  recollect  that  any 
thing  was  said  about  it  afterwards.  The  following 
books  were  simply  published  in  uniform  style  with 
the  first."  This  is  my  recollection  of  the  matter, 
which  is  simple  and  commonplace  enough. 

From  my  letters  at  the  time,  however,  the  firm 
of  Brummell  &  Hunt  infer  a  thrilling  dramatic 
scene  in  which  Mr.  Hunt  was  the  obdurate  auto 
crat,  or  the  wise  and  thrifty  guardian,  as  the  case 
may  be,  who,  like  Mrs.  John  Gilpin,  though  on 
publishing  bent,  had  a  frugal  mind ;  but  was  at 
length  moved  by  me, 

"  Languendo,  gemendo 
Et  genuflectendo," 

to  lay  aside  prudence  and  launch  out  into  a  style  of 
publication  which  could  be  met  only  by  some  ex 
traordinary  sacrifice  on  my  part,  I  professing  to  be 
until  this  late  disclosure  ignorant  both  of  style  and 
sacrifice. 

I  give  the  correspondence,  inserting  Mr.  Hunt's 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  191 

letters  to  throw   light  on  mine  —  the  latter  only 
appearing  in  Mr.  Parry's  defense. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  the  book  was  pub 
lished  September  18,  1762. 

MR.  HUNT  TO  M.  N.,  SEPT.  2,  1762. 

"  It  is  our  intention  to  publish  '  C.  L.,'  on  Sat 
urday,  the  13th  of  this  month  :  not  before,  cer 
tainly.  If  any  great  excitement  befall  the  country, 
we  shall  postpone  till  the  following  Saturday.  .  .  . 

"  Your  new  preface  is  pungent  as  a  pepper. 
Your  motto  seems  to  be,  '  Je  suis  pret.' 

"  Give  it  to  'em  any  wray  you  like.  A  proof  of 
the  preface  will  go  to  you  in  a  few  days.  As  to 
the  binding  of  your  book,  I  propose  same  style  as 
4  Rs.  of  a  City  Curate,'  gilt  top  leaves  and  beveled 
boards.  Do  you  like  that  way  ?  " 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  HUNT,  SEPTEMBER  3. 

"  For  you  to  set  up  and  pretend  to  ask  me  if  I 
like  '  City  Curate '  style,  when  you  knew  I  went 
down  on  my  knees  to  you  to  have  it  like  '  Sir 
Thomas  Browne,'  and  you  said  you  would. 

"  The  next  book  you  publish  for  me,  I  am  going 
to  stand  over  you  with  a  grip  on  your  coat-collar 
from  the  time  you  give  the  first  copy  to  the  printer 
till  the  first  edition  stands  on  the  shelf,  and  see  if 
you  cannot  be  kept  to  something.  I  don't  know 


192  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

what  your  beveled  boards  are  —  only  if  you  put  a 
d  in,  the  adjective  would  apply  more  accurately  — 
and  I  don't  want  my  book  to  be  boarded  up  any 
way,  and  if  there  is  anything  I  hate,  it  is  gilt  tops, 
and  if  you  don't  do  it  as  I  want  it,  I  don't  care  how 
it  is  done." 

MR.  HUNT  TO  M.  N.,  SEPTEMBER  15. 

"  We  shall  publish,  unless  a  defeat  crowns  our 
victories,  your  book  this  week.  It  will  be  a  beauty, 
and  look  like  "Sir  Thomas  Browne,'  in  its  red 
waistcoat." 

[This  letter  was  delayed  and  not  received  till 
the  following  letter  was  partly  written.] 

M.  N.  TO  MR.  HUNT,  SEPTEMBER  20,  1762. 

"  You  darling  Traddles,  —  why  do  I  call  you 
Traddles  ?  Because  you  are  '  the  dearest  fellow.' 
It  was  not  Traddles,  though,  was  it  ?  It  was  his 
wife,  and  she  was  not  a  fellow  but  a  girl  —  never 
mind.  The  fact  I  wish  to  impress  upon  your  mind 
is,  that  you  have  tricked  out  my  book  so  beautifully 
that  nothing  could  be  lovelier.  You  would  not 
have  done  it  though  if  I  had  not  threatened  you 
within  an  inch  of  your  life,  would  you  ?  You 
don't  know  how  delighted  I  was  when  I  opened 
the  bundle,  expecting  to  see  those  cheap-looking 


•A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.  193 

paste-boardy  things,  and  you  had  gone  and  done 
them  just  as  I  wanted  you  to  do  them,  and  you 
said  you  would,  and  then  said  you  wouldn't,  and 
they  are  beautiful.  They  are  better  even  than  '  Sir 
Thomas.'  The  paper  is  finer.  But  now  see  —  I 
never  thought  till  yesterday  that  they  must  cost 
more  than  the  other  way,  and  I  have  been  dis 
tressed  all  along,  and  this  makes  me  more  so.  But 
listen  :  I  shall  either  live,  or  die,  or  marry.  If  I 
live  I  shall  get  money,  if  not  by  writing,  then  by 
teaching,  or  something,  so  that  I  shall  pay  you 
sometime.  If  I  die  I  shall  leave  money  enough  of 
my  own  to  pay  you,  and  you  keep  this  letter  to 
show  to  my  heirs  to  let  them  know  I  desire  you  to 
be  paid.  If  I  marry,  Smith  of  course  will  be  de 
lighted  to  pay  all  my  debts,  and  I  shall  make  that 
the  condition  of  my  becoming  Smithess  ;  so  that  you 
shall  not  lose  money  on  my  book,  even  if  you  don't 
make  any,  which  I  hope  you  will  —  millions  of 
dollars ;  but  I  am  sure  you  must  see  for  yourself 
that  it  is  better  to  have  a  book  look  substantial 
and  high-bred,  and  suit  you,  even  if  it  does  cost  a 
little  more. 

"  Just  here  comes  your  letter  and  check,  which 
was  delayed  in  Boston  because  you  did  not  put  a 
stamp  on. 

"  One  of  my  friends  has  been  questioning  me 
about  the  business  part  of  my  book  —  copyrights 

13 


194  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

and  contract,  and  all  that  trash  of  which  I  know 
and  care  nothing." 

[Foolish  as  this  all  seems  to  me  now,  I  can  only 
say  that  it  expressed  exactly  my  state  of  mind.  It 
was  not  that  I  had  any  lofty  disregard  of  money, 
but  simply  that  I  was  so  intent  on  writing,  that  I 
had  room  for  nothing  else.  I  had  plenty  of  money, 
or  if  I  had  not,  I  did  not  know  it,  which  amounts 
to  the  same  thing,  and  it  made  me  impatient  to 
be  bothered  with  these  outside,  and  what  seemed  to 
me  entirely  insignificant  matters.] 

"  But  I  want  to  know  if  by  publishing  articles  in 
the  *  A.  M.'  they  pass  out  of  my  hands.  I  mean, 
if  I  wanted  to  collect  them  and  have  Tilton,  say, 
publish  them,  couldn't  I  ?  I  will  any  way ;  be 
cause  you  see,  though  I  am  amiable,  you  know 
what  your  temper  is,  and  suppose  we  flare  up 
and  have  a  quarrel,  what  then  ?  I  tell  you  I 
don't  discard  lines  of  retreat.  Now  you  know  I 
would  rather  have  you  publish  than  anybody  else 
—  supposing  I  had  anything  to  be  published  ;  but  I 
want  to  do  it  because  I  want  to  do  it,  and  not 
because  I  have  to  do  it  —  don't  you  understand  ? 

"  Do  you  know  that  it  scares  me  to  see  my  book 
out  in  the  open  day  ?  Seems  to  me  it  is  a  romp 
ing  kind  of  a  book,  and  there  is  a  regiment  of  I's 
on  every  page,  and  *  lots  '  of  '  trick sys  '  and  (  exas- 
peratings'  and  'for  my  parts.'  You  cannot  tell 


A   BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS.  195 

how  a  book  will  look  till  it  is  born,  can  you  ?  I 
shall  make  the  next  one  better.  Shall  you  read 
it  now  it  is  out  ?  I  wish  L  knew  whether  it  dis 
appoints  you.  It  does  me.  It  is  crude  and  botchy 
—  it  is  so  awfully  unlike  '  Sir  Thomas  Browne  ; ' 
and  if  it  isn't  good,  it  is  frightfully  pretentious.  A 
book  ought  not  to  come  out  in  that  style,  unless 

it  has  some  merit.  To  think  of reading  it, 

and and and I  should  like  to  go 

into  a  hole  and  burrow  —  and 

"  O  dear  !  I  don't  suppose  they  will  read  it,  but 
I  wanted  to  have  such  a  book  as  they  will  read. 
Any  way,  you  have  done  your  part,  and  I  want 
you  to  know  that  I  am  aware  of  it  and  not  un 
grateful." 

"  Hurrah !  Good  news !  I  have  heard  of  a 

man  in  S ,  who  said  he  was  going  to  buy  my 

book  '  There  is  one  copy  as  good  as  sold. 

"  The  man  who  told  me  about  the  purchaser  in 

S ,  tells  me  also  that  the  dress  of  my  book  is 

very  much  admired,  and  says  I  ought  to  be  very 
grateful  to  B.  &  H.  for  doing  me  up  in  such  style, 
just  as  if  I  was  not !  But  what  can  I  do  about  it? 
There  is  a  white  cloud  at  the  toe  of  my  boot.  As 
soon  as  it  resolves  itself  into  a  well-defined  hole,  I 
am  coming  to  Athens  to  get  a  new  pair.  I  have 
nothing  in  the  world  to  say  to  you,  and  I  shall  not 
come  to  see  you.  Still,  if  you  should  say,  '  Hadn't 


196     A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

you  better  ?  '  perhaps  I  might  be  induced  to  rasp 
my  knuckles  against  No.  7 — ." 

MR.  HUNT  TO  M.  N.,  SEPTEMBER  23. 

"  I  am  glad  you  like  the  costume  into  which  we 
put  your  first-born.  It  is  a  handsome  baby  and 
will  go  alone  uncommonly  early." 

So  it  seems  that  notwithstanding  all  the  impor 
tunities  and  posturings  of  the  kneeling  scene,  Mr. 
Hunt  was  unmoved  —  for  it  was  after  the  curtain 
had  fallen  on  this  act  that  he  quietly  writes,  "  I 
propose  same  style  as  '  City  Curate.'  Do  you  like 
it  ?  "  All  its  pathos  had  not  been  sufficient  to  keep 
the  act  itself  in  mind.  When  I  first  suggested 
"  Sir  Thomas  Browne,"  he  agreed  at  once,  but  after 
wards  apparently  forgot  it  and  mentioned  "  City 
Curate,"  as  if  nothing  had  before  been  said  on  the 
subject.  Finding  then  that  I  wanted  the  "  Sir 
Thomas,"  he  does  not  so  much  as  reply,  but  simply 
binds  the  book  according  to  my  wishes.  There  is 
no  sign  of  any  objection  to  it  on  his  part  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end,  so  that  the  candid  inquirer 
is  at  a  loss  to  know  why  I  should  have  knelt,  ex 
cept  from  native  humility  of  spirit  and  taste  for  the 
suppliant  posture  —  which  nobody  can  deny. 

As  the  ministers  remark,  "  we  shall  resume  this 
subject  in  the  afternoon's  discourse."  I  only  say 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.  197 

here  what,  d  la  Ollendorf's  grammar,  I  had  a  mind 
but  no  time  to  say  to  the  referees. 

After  we  had  all  slept  upon  it  and  returned  to 
our  moutons  next  morning,  Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry,  & 
Co.  brought  in  proof  to  show  that  I  did  know  that 
fifteen  hundred  books  were  exempted  in  the  first 
edition.  This  was  an  account  in  one  of  their  books 
in  which  the  exemption  appeared.  But  in  their 
copy  of  the  accounts  sent  to  me,  drawn  up  by  their 
clerk  for  the  referees,  the  latter  remarked  that  no 
such  item  appeared.  Messrs.  Parry  and  Markman 
thought  it  might  be  the  clerk's  mistake  in  copying. 
The  referees  asked  me  if  I  had  my  accounts  with 
me.  As  they  had  been  my  literature  for  sixteen 
months,  I  was  inclined  to  think  I  had.  The  origi 
nal  papers  were  produced  and  no  mention  was  found 
in  them  of  any  exempted  copies.  Mr.  Parry  said 
that  as  the  item  was  down  in  the  books  it  must  have 
been  put  there  for  the  purpose  of  sending  to  me. 
Mr.  Markman  thought  this  particular  account  might 
have  been  lost  in  the  mail.  But  the  accounts  which 
I  held  covered  all  the  time  of  my  transactions  with 
Messrs.  B.  &  H.  Mr.  Parry  thought  the  entry  in 
their  books  would  at  least  show  their  good  inten 
tions. 

The  second  edition  of  "  City  Lights  "  numbered 
five  hundred  copies.  No  edition  was  so  large  as 
the  first,  except  the  eleventh,  which  numbered  two 


198  A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

thousand  copies.  Another  fact  came  out  of  which 
I  had  not  before  been  aware,  that  three  hundred 
copies  had  been  exempted  on  every  book.  These 
I  suppose  had  been  distributed  as  advertisements. 

Regarding  the  change  in  payments  from  per 
centage  to  a  fixed  sum,  the  firm  claimed  that  it  was 
made  with  my  full  knowledge,  understanding,  and 
consent,  as  would  be  proved  by  Mr.  Hunt's  testi 
mony.  Whereupon  Mr.  Parry  gave  place  to  Mr. 
Hunt,  who  deposed  and  said  —  or  rather,  to  his 
grief,  did  not  depose,  but  was  obliged  to  content 
himself  with  saying,  — that  on  a  certain  time  he  held 
a  long  conversation  with  me  on  the  subject  of  the 
change,  in  which  he  fully  explained  to  me  its  nature 
and  necessity.  He  remembered  that  at  first  I  was 
disposed  to  be  trifling,  but  he  begged  that  I  would 
be  serious,  and  assured  me  that  this  was  a  serious 
matter.  He  remembered  using  the  expression,  that 
their  house  was  shaking  in  the  wind.  He  explained 
to  me  over  and  over  again,  to  make  sure  that  I  un 
derstood  the  state  of  affairs  and  the  reasons  which 
necessitated  the  change,  and  repeatedly  asked  me, 
"  Do  you  understand  this  clearly  ?  "  and  I  said  that 
I  did,  and  "  Do  you  assent  to  it  ?  "  and  I  answered 
"  Yes."  Then,  fastening  upon  me  a  look  —  appa 
rently  designed  to  be  penetrating  and  powerful 
enough  to  reach  the  lowest  depths  of  duplicity  and 
to  wring  late  confession  even  from  a  perjured  soul, 


A  BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS.  199 

—  he  exclaimed,   "I  think,  M.  N.,  you  must  re 
member  this." 

Of  course  I  was  overwhelmed  with  confusion, 
but  having  persisted  in  the  falsehood  so  long  it  was 
hardly  worth  while  to  go  down  on  my  knees  to  the 
gentleman  a  second  time,  so  I  received  his  gaze  in 
silence.  In  fact,  Mars  Hill  House  witnessed  then 
what  the  hymn  calls  "  the  young  dawn  of  heaven 
below,1'  inasmuch  as  there  was  silence  in  the  room 
for  the  space  of  not  quite  half  an  hour.  It  was 
broken  by  the  referees,  who  said  that  it  was  per 
haps  proper  to  ask  me  here  if  I  remembered  any 
such  conversation.  I  said  that  I  did  not  recollect 
it.  They  asked  Mr.  Hunt  if  he  had  any  corre 
spondence  which  referred  to  it.  He  said  no,  only 
the  letter  of  mine  which  I  had  myself  produced,  in 
which  I  admitted  it.  But  he  remembered  it  with 
exact  clearness.  He  could  recall  just  the  sofa  on 
which  he  sat.  He  was  so  confident  that  he  wished 
he  could  take  his  oath  on  it.  They  asked  him 
whether  I  happened  to  be  in  Athens  or  whether  he 
sent  for  me.  He  was  not  sure,  but  thought  he  sent 
for  me.  They  asked  him  if  in  this  conversation  it 
was  understood  that  "  City  Lights  "  was  to  be  in 
cluded  in  the  second  contract.  He  said  "  distinctly." 
I  asked  if  he  could  define  the  time  when  the  con 
versation  occurred.  He  could  not,  but  it  was  some 
time  before  the  second  contract  was  made,  and  was 


200  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

the  basis  of  that  contract.  I  asked  if  he  could 
tell  whether  it  was  in  the  old  shop  or  the  new.  He 
said  it  was  in  the  new.  He  did  not  add,  what 
would  have  been  a  most  effective  peroration  to  his 
speech,  — 

"  I  reside  at  Table  Mountain,  and  my  name  is  Truthful  James; 
I  am  not  up  to  small  deceit  or  any  sinful  games." 

This  little  matter  being  thus  comfortably  dis 
posed  of,  Mr.  Parry  again  took  up  the  thread  of  his 
discourse. 

With  regard  to  the  change  in  payment  to  authors 
from  a  percentage  to  a  fixed  sum,  he  said  that  such 
a  change  was  desirable  because  everything  was 
changing  and  uncertain.  He  reiterated  his  state 
ment  as  to  the  variations  that  had  been  made  in 
the  retail  price  of  my  books ;  said  that  authors  gen 
erally  did  accede  to  the  change ;  admitted  that 

Mrs. had  had  some  difficulty,  that  her  mind 

seemed  to  have  been  jaundiced  towards  them,  that 

her  sister,  Miss ,  had  examined  their  books, 

and  that  Mrs. had  now  become  satisfied 

that  all  was  right ;  that  I,  before  the  reference, 
neither  admitted  nor  denied  that  I  had  acceded  to 
their  proposal,  but  only  affirmed  that  I  did  not  rec 
ollect  about  it.  He  denied  that  there  was  any  pre 
scriptive  custom  of  paying  the  author  ten  per  cent., 
though  as  before,  he  objected  to  bringing  in  the 
modes  of  other  publishers,  as  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co. 


A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  201 

transacted  business  on  their  own  account  without 
consulting  others.  Which  is  all  very  true,  doubt 
less,  yet  the  prejudiced  observer,  seeing  how  much 
is  said  about  the  great  liberality  of  this  firm,  can 
but  marvel  that  they  should  have  been  willing  to 
miss  so  brilliant  an  opportunity  of  contrasting  their 
own  liberality  with  the  niggardliness  of  those  sordid 
book-men  who  publish,  not  for  glory  and  high  em 
prise,  but  simply  to  make  money.  Mr.  Parry  said 
this  also  was  a  reason  why  the  questions  propounded 
to  them  by  Mr.  Dane  antecedent  to  the  reference 
seemed  irrelevant.  They  were  asked  to  state  their 
income  and  that  from  the  "Adriatic."  But  they 
might  make  a  great  deal  of  money  in  outside  ways, 
—  by  speculating  in  butter,  for  instance,  —  of  which 
it  was  not  pertinent  that  they  should  give  any  ac 
count.  He  was  asked  why,  if  there  was  no  pre 
scribed  custom  to  pay  ten  per  cent.,  they  themselves 
fixed  on  ten  per  cent,  as  the  rate  of  payment  for 
"  City  Lights."  He  said  that  they  were  disposed 
to  be  liberal ;  that  there  were  no  fluctuations  then  ; 
that  such  a  prescriptive  custom  may  then  have 
existed,  he  would  not  say  that  ten  per  cent,  was 
not  common,  though  he  did  not  himself  know  what 
was  the  custom  among  other  publishers.  He  was 
asked  why  "  City  Lights  "  was  not  by  name  included 
in  the  second  contract  if  its  provisions  were  in 
tended  to  apply  to  "  City  Lights,"  and  why  the 


202  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

other  works  were  not  also  included  in  a  contract. 
He  replied,  that  it  was  because  a  verbal  understand 
ing  had  been  reached ;  that  if  they  had  supposed 
or  intended  any  wrong,  they  would  certainly  have 
so  included  it ;  that  the  absence  of  contracts  was 
owing  to  a  basis  of  mutual  understanding  and  ver 
bal  agreements.  He  was  asked  if  they  had  any 
letters  bearing  on  such  verbal  agreements,  and  he 
said  they  had  not. 

He  affirmed  that  the  publishers  made  but  insig 
nificant  profits  on  the  books  compared  with  mine  ; 
that  up  to  September,  1764,  when  the  second  con 
tract  was  made,  when  "  City  Lights  "  had  been 
two  years  out  and  "  Alba  Dies"  and  "  Rocks  of  Of 
fense  "  had  been  published,  and  "  Old  Miasmas  " 
was  about  to  be  published,  their  net  cash  profit  on 
the  books  for  these  two  years  had  been  three  hun 
dred  dollars.  Here  they  went  into  the  details  of  the 
business  with  a  minuteness  altogether  beyond  my 
power  to  comprehend  or  report.  The  referees  and 
themselves  carried  on  a  long  discussion  about  the 
condition  of  business  in  general,  and  their  business 
in  particular,  in  1762, 1764,  and  subsequently.  The 
firm  foresaw  that  they  should  have  to  advance  the 
retail  price  of  their  books.  Everything  connected 
with  their  business  advanced.  The  price  and  qual 
ity  of  paper,  the  size  of  books,  taxes,  interest, 
stereotype  plates,  pro  rata  increase,  press-work, 


A    BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  203 

expenses  of  business,  comparative  costs  of  compara 
tive  thinness,  if  there  is  any  such  thing,  number  of 
pounds  of  paper  in  thin  books  and  thick  books,  dis 
counts  to  the  trade,  were  discussed  with  apparent 
intelligence.  I  can  give  only  a  few  of  the  mysteri 
ous  tongues  of  flames  that  shot  above  the  level  of 
the  luminous,  and  still  more  mysterious  corona. 

[It  will  be  seen  that  this  part  of  my  paper  is  like 
Milton's  "  fatal  and  perfidious  bark,"  in  "being  built 
in  the  eclipse  "  as  well  as  "  rigged  with  curses  dark."] 

The  stereotype  plates  of  the  nine  volumes  were 
estimated  at  three  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty- 
three  dollars,  ninety-seven  cents. 

Paper,  printing,  and  binding  of  about  72,000  vol 
umes      .                  .         .         .  $38,422.08 
Advertising  in  outside  mediums           .  1,500.00 
Advertising  in  their  own  periodicals  500.00 

[The  latter  embraced  only  cost  of  paper  and 
printing.] 

Government   manufacturing  tax,  five  per  cent,  on 
sales,  October  1764  to  July  1766       $1,814.04 

Seven  per  cent,  interest  on  stereotype 

plates          -.         ...         .         .         991.46 

Expenses  of  doing  business,  ten  per  cent,  on 

sales          .....         7,061.14 


204  A    BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

The  latter  included  rent,  insurance,  clerk  hire, 
packing,  store  expenses,  business  risks  and  losses, 
taxes  on  business-property,  except  income-tax,  etc. 
Reckoning  up  the  sums  expended  they  proved  be 
yond  doubt,  if  there  be  truth  in  figures,  that  their 
profits  were  not  quite  seven-tenths  as  large  as  those 
of  the  opulent  and  insatiable  author,  who,  in  spite 
of  all  this  inequality  was  clamoring  for  more.  But 
they  admitted  that,  though  their  expenses  had  been 
out  of  all  proportion  to  their  profits  since  the  rise 
in  prices,  their  profits  had  lately  "  been  some  larger 
than  before." 

With  all  due  respect  to  Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry,  & 
Co.,  I  must  still  avow  that  these  estimates  are  en 
tirely  valueless.  What  would  have  been  of  value 
was  their  cost-book,  which  would  have  showed  what 
they  actually  did  pay.  This  I  asked  for  but  it  was 
not  produced.  They  simply  made  an  estimate. 
They  brought  forward  not  a  single  voucher.  They 
reckon  the  item  of  advertising  at  two  thousand 
dollars,  but  they  produced  not  a  paper  to  show 
that  they  had  paid  anything.  This  advertising 
extended  over  several  years  and  embraced  adver 
tisements  of  nine  books.  Whether  they  counted  in 
the  three  hundred  volumes  reserved  on  each  book  i 
whether  they  counted  in  the  advertisements  of 
every  book  advertised  and  issued  simultaneously 
with  mine,  on  what  basis  they  did  calculate,  or  what 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  205 

sums  they  did  pay,  I  have  no  means  of  knowing, 
except  their  assertion. 

In  the  same  way  they  make  their  estimate  of 
the  cost  of  paper  and  press-work ;  but  that  it  is 
anything  more  than  an  estimate,  that  it  represents 
the  actual  sum  which  they  paid  to  printers  and 
binders,  there  is  no  proof.  From  the  fact  that  I 
asked  for  their  cost-book,  and  that  it  was  not  pro 
duced,  I  infer  that  it  does  not  represent  that  sum, 
notwithstanding  the  laudable  accuracy  involved  in 
the  eight  cents. 

Again,  having  set  down  a  certain  sum  for  the 
cost  of  the  stereotype  plates,  for  the  interest  of  that 
money,  for  the  paper  and  press-work,  for  the  adver 
tising  and  taxes,  they  bring  in  a  grand  finale  for  the 
expenses  of  doing  business.  That  is,  having  charged 
once  for  the  items  specifically,  they  lump  them 
together  and  charge  for  them  all  over  again  ab 
stractly.  For  what  is  the  advertising  and  the  taxes 
but  a  part  of  the  expenses  of  doing  business  ?  Why 
could  not  everything  except  the  raw  material  of 
the  book  be  classed  under  the  head  of  doing  busi 
ness  ?  What  is  there  to  a  book  but  the  book  itself 
and  the  publication  of  it  ?  And  why  again  should 
interest  be  charged  on  the  sum  paid  for  stereotype 
plates  any  more  than  for  that  paid  to  the  printer 
and  binder  ? 

[Since  the  reference  I  have  showed  their  state- 


206  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

merit  to  several  publishers,  and  am  assured  that  any 
person  whose  correct  accounts  should  stand  thus 
is  unfit  for  the  business,  and  that  the  profit  on  those 
books  is  from  four  to  five  times  as  much  as  Messrs. 
Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  represent  it.] 

But,  even  supposing  all  these  figures  to  be  cor 
rect,  it  will  at  once  be  seen  that  the  publishers  set 
off  their  own  net  profits  against  the  author's  gross 
receipts.  Having  charged  for  every  item  of  their 
own  expense  in  producing  the  book,  and  for  some 
of  them  twice  over,  they  make  no  allowance  what 
ever  for  the  author's  having  been  at  any  expense  in 
his  part  of  the  production.  What  the  publisher  gets 
after  every  expense  is  paid  is  set  over  against  what 
the  author  gets  to  pay  every  expense  with.  But 
the  publisher's  profits,  according  to  their  showing, 
are  only  about  one  tenth  of  his  gross  receipts.  What 
then  is  the  author's  share  of  what  may  truly  be 
termed  profits?  Or  is  the  author's  share  in  the 
production  of  the  book  to  be  considered  as  of  no 
pecuniary  value  ? 

The  remainder  of  the  case,  as  presented  by 
Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.,  will  appear,  to  the 
best  of  my  ability,  in  the  written  reply  presented 
to  the  referees  and  here  subjoined.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  one  is  always  liable  to  misrepresent 
an  opponent's  case.  I  labor  under  the  additional 
disadvantage  of  possessing  a  natural  aptitude  for 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  207 

"  conspicuous  inexactness  "  perfected  by  long  prac 
tice.  This  innate  depravity  is,  however,  held  in 
check  at  the  present  crisis,  by  the  consciousness 
that  I  am  reporting  what  took  place  in  the 
presence  of  five  persons,  of  whom  three  were  on 
the  other  side,  and  two  on  neither  side,  so  that 
any  lapse  from  truth  would  be  speedily  detected. 
With  such  vigor  does  Providence  barricade  our 
weaker  virtues  ! 

INTRODUCTION. 

(This  "  Introduction "  will  doubtless  induce  in 
the  reader  a  despair  akin  to  that  felt  by  a  sleepy 
worshipper  on  a  warm  Sunday  afternoon,  when, 
nearing,  as  he  supposes,  the  close  of  the  discourse, 
the  preacher  turns  over  a  new  leaf,  and  announces, 
"Secondly!") 

"  INTRODUCTION. 

"  Before  proceeding  to  the  subject-matter  of  the 
controversy,  will  the  referees  permit  me  to  apolo 
gize  for  appearing  before  them  to  present  the  case 
myself.  Nothing  was  further  from  my  intention. 
Until  the  evening  before  the  reference  I  did  not 
mean  to  be  present  at  all,  and  I  then  consented  to 
be  in  the  room  only  at  Mr.  Dane's  urgent  solicita 
tion.  I  wished  a  full,  clear,  and  exhaustive  dis 
cussion.  I  knew  that  I  was  not  able  to  enter  into 


208  A    BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

it  myself.  I  have  steadfastly  refused  to  attempt  it 
even  in  private  with  Messrs.  Hunt  and  Parry,  be 
cause  I  knew  I  was  so  ignorant  of  the  details  of 
business,  that  such  a  discussion  would  be  fruitless. 
How  much  less  then  should  I  have  attempted  it 
before  two  gentlemen  of  the  character  and  ability 
of  the  referees,  appealed  to  for  a  formal  and  final 
decision  ? 

"  The  paper  already  presented  to  the  referees  was 
prepared  originally  for  my  own  convenience,  and 
was  subsequently  put  into  Mr.  Dane's  hands  for  his 
exact  understanding  of  the  matter.  It  was  not 
designed  for  the  referees.  It  contained  much  ir 
relevant  matter,  and  my  only  excuse  for  offering  it, 
is  the  embarrassment  and  perplexity  in  which  I 
suddenly  found  myself  involved,  and  from  which 
this  seemed  the  only  way  of  escape. 

"  The  same  circumstances  must  be  my  apology  to 
Mr.  Hunt  for  certain  letters  which  appeared  in  that 
statement.  They  were  placed  there  only  for  the 
sake  of  a  few  lines  which  were  in  them.  These 
extracts  were  all  that  were  designed  to  be  read. 
But  in  the  confusion  of  the  moment  I  was  entirely 
unable  to  make  any  separation  or  distinction.  I 
mention  this,  not  because  the  letters  contained 
anything  discreditable  to  Mr.  Hunt,  for  they  did 
not ;  but  because  I  would  wish  to  avoid  even  the 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  209 

appearance  of  unnecessarily  giving  private  letters 
to  the  semi-publicity  of  arbitration.1 

"  For  the  paper  which  I  now  present,  I  must  also 
beg  the  indulgence  of  the  referees.  I  have  done 
the  best  I  could  do  under  the  circumstances,  but  I 
know  that  it  must  seem  to  them  redundant,  de 
ficient,  unsystematic,  and  perhaps  inadequate.  I 
can  only  assure  them  that  had  I  thought  it  possible 
I  should  be  forced  to  conduct  the  case  myself,  I 
should  never  have  appealed  to  arbitration. 

"  I  beg  to  thank  the  referees  most  sincerely  for 
their  unvarying  kindness  and  forbearance. 

"SUBJECT-MATTER  OF  THE  CONTROVERSY. 

"  I  claim  what  is  justly  due  for  copyright  on  eight 
works,  namely :  — 

"  4  City  Lights,' 

"  « Alba  Dies,' 

"  « Rocks  of  Offense,' 

"  '  Old  Miasmas,' 

"  '  Pencillings,' 

" « Holidays,' 

"  «  Cotton-Picking,' 

"  *  Winter  Work,' 

Published  by  Messrs.  Brummell  &  Hunt,  since 
Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co. 

"  Were   there   no  contracts,  the  author's  share 

1  These  letters  do  not  appear  in  this  publication. 
14 


210  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

should,  I  suppose,  be  determined  by  the  usage  of 
publishers  and  authors,  as  to  similar  works  with 
similar  sales. 

"  For  four  of  these  books  there  is  no  contract. 

"  On  the  first  book, 4  City  Lights,'  there  is  a  writ 
ten  contract  at  ten  per  cent,  on  the  retail  price  after 
the  first  edition  is  sold.  This  price  was  fixed  volun 
tarily  by  the  publishers  without  suggestion  from  or 
consultation  with  me,  and  must  be  considered  as  ex 
pressing  their  idea  of  what  was  fair  and  usual  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  even  with  a  new  author. 
This  contract  has  never  been  rescinded.  Messrs. 
Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  claim  that  it  has  been  re 
scinded.  No  one  can  be  called  upon  to  prove  a  neg 
ative.  To  prove  that  the  contract  exists,  I  produce 
the  contract.  To  prove  that  the  rescission  exists, 
I  demand  that  they  produce  the  rescission.  This 
they  have  utterly  failed  to  do.  Mr.  Hunt  simply 
asserts  a  verbal  agreement,  which  I  deny.  A 
verbal  agreement  between  two  parties,  which  one 
party  stoutly  maintains,  and  the  other  flatly  denies, 
is,  I  submit,  an  agreement  more  suited  to  the  lati 
tude  and  longitude  of  Dublin  than  of  Athens.  A 

O 

verbal  agreement,  which  on  examination  proves 
to  be  an  utter  and  absolute  disagreement,  cannot 
cancel  a  written  contract. 

"  They  not  only  attempt  to  rescind  the  first  con 
tract,  but  to  substitute  another  for  it  by  including 


A   BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS.  211 

4  City  Lights '  in  the  second  contract.  But 
4  City  Lights  '  is  not  named  in  the  second  con 
tract.  They  do  not  even  pretend  that  they  in 
tended  to  name  it  there.  They  simply  assert  a 
conversation  in  which  both  parties  agreed  that,  the 
first  contract  still  existing,  they  would  act  as  if  it 
did  not  exist ;  and  that  '  City  Lights  '  not  being 
inserted  in  the  second  contract,  both  parties  should 
act  as  if  it  were  so  inserted.  I  beg  to  inquire  if 
there  is  anything  in  the  Union  as  it  was,  or  the 
Constitution  as  it  is,  that  could  make  such  a  pro 
cedure  reasonable  ?  Is  it  credible  that  a  shrewd 
business  firm  should  rely  on  a  verbal  agreement  to 
cancel  a  written  one  and  leave  the  latter  uncan- 
celled  in  the  possession  of  the  other  party  ? 

"'Dies  Alba,'  'Rocks  of  Offense,'  and  'Old 
Miasmas,'  were  published  at  different  periods  sub 
sequent  to  the  publication  of  '  City  Lights.'  They 
are  all  embraced  in  one  contract,  which  bears  date 
September  24,  1764.  This  contract  is  not  at  ten 
per  cent,  on  the  retail  price,  but  at  fifteen  cents  a 
volume  on  all  volumes  sold. 

44  This  contract  I  claim  to  be  invalid,  because  it 
was  obtained  from  me  under  false  representations, 
and  because  it  is  not  equitable. 

"  Mr.  Hunt  asserts  that  before  entering  into  this 
contract,  and  as  a  basis  of  this  contract,  he  had 
a  long  conversation  with  me  in  which  he  fully 


212  A   BATTLE   OF  THE   BOOKS. 

showed  me  the  reason  of  the  proposed  change  from 
ten  per  cent,  to  fifteen  cents  on  a  volume.  His 
recollection  of  this  conversation  is  so  vivid  that  he 
even  recalls  the  sofa  on  which  he  sat.  He  thinks 
he  sent  for  me,  but  is  not  quite  sure.  He  remem 
bers  that  I  was  disposed  at  first  to  be  trifling,  but 
he  begged  me  to  be  serious,  and  assured  me  that 
this  was  a  serious  matter.  He  remembers  using 
the  expression,  '  that  their  house  was  shaking  in 
the  wind.'  He  says,  he  explained  to  me  over  and 
over  again  the  state  of  affairs  and  the  reasons  which 
necessitated  the  change ;  and  repeatedly  asked  me, 
6  Do  you  understand  this  clearly  ?  '  and  I  answered 
that  I  did,  and  '  Do  you  agree  to  it  ? '  and  I  said 
yes.  He  is  so  positive  in  his  assurance  that  he  ex 
presses  the  wish  that  he  could  take  his  oath  on  it ; 
the  referees  ask  him  if,  in  that  conversation,  '  City 
Lights '  was  included  among  the  other  books,  and 
he  replies,  'distinctly.'  Then,  in  face  of  my  re 
peated  written  and  verbal  assertions  to  him  that  I 
had  no  recollection  of  any  such  conversation,  he 
fixes  his  eyes  upon  me  and  says,  with  emphasis,  '  I 
think,  M.  N.,  you  must  remember  this.' 

"  I  have  already  stated  to  the  referees  that  I  had 
no  recollection  of  any  such  conversation  or  of  any 
verbal  agreement.  I  was  willing  to  attribute  the 
assertion  to  a  mistaken  impression  on  the  part  of 
Mr.  Hunt.  Now,  after  his  positive,  persistent,  and 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  213 

circumstantial  assertion,  I  go  further.  I  deny  his 
assertion  in  part  and  in  whole,  in  every  point  and 
particular.  I  deny  it  not  simply  as  a  mistaken 
impression,  but  I  deny  it  as  a  question  of  veracity 
between  Mr.  Hunt  and  myself. 

"  As  I  have  said  before,  I  cannot  be  called  upon 
to  prove  a  negative.  The  burden  of  proof  lies  on 
Mr.  Hunt  who  asserts  the  positive.  He  admits  that 
he  has  no  correspondence  to  show  it,  but  affirms 
that  I  admit  it  myself  in  one  of  my  early  letters  by 
saying,  'I  dare  say'  I  did  have  such  a  conver 
sation.  The  letter  to  which  he  refers  is  my  second 
letter  of  inquiry,  written  before  my  faith  in  him  had 
been  shaken,  ancl  before  the  question  of  such  a  con 
versation  had  assumed  any  prominence  or  arrested 
my  attention.  I  had  asked  him,  as  my  letters  show, 
why  he  wanted  me  to  take  less  than  ten  per  cent. 
He  had  replied,  that  we  had  talked  it  over  and  I 
agreed  to  less.  I  replied  that  I  knew  I  agreed  to 
it,  for  here  were  the  contracts,  but  why  did  he  wish 
me  to  make  such  contracts?  My  exact  words 
were,  'I  don't  remember  ever  talking  the  things 
over  with  you,  but  I  dare  say  I  did  —  or  rather  you 
talked  and  I  nodded,  —  as  usual.  And  of  course  I 

agreed,  for  here  are  the  contracts  that  say  so 

Don't  you  see  the  trouble  lies  back  of  the  contracts. 
Why  did  you  wish  me  to  be  having  seven  or  eight 
per  cent,  when  other  people  are  getting  ten?' 


214  A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

Here  it  is  seen  that  in  the  very  beginning,  almost 
before  any  suspicion  was  aroused,  and  before  my 
attention  was  at  all  fixed  upon  the  importance  of 
this  conversation,  I,  first,  carelessly  but  distinctly 
assert  that  I  remember  no  such  talk ;  second,  I 
found  my  recognition  of  my  assent  not  upon  any 
remembered  talk  but  upon  the  written  contract ; 
and  third,  I  reiterate  my  questions  concerning  what 
lay  back  of  the  contract  in  entire  unconsciousness 
that  the  talk  had  anything  to  do  with  it. 

"  So  then,  the  only  testimony  which  Mr.  Hunt  can 
produce  of  a  verbal  agreement  which  vitiates  one 
contract  and  forms  the  basis  of  another,  is  a  letter 
of  mine  in  which  I  distinctly  affirm  that  I  don't  re 
member  anything  about  it !  Mr.  Hunt  is  welcome 
to  all  the  sunshine  he  can  find  in  that  cucumber. 

"  Again,  Mr.  Hunt  cannot  fix. the  time  when  this 
explanatory  conversation  occurred  and  this  verbal 
agreement  was  made ;  but  it  was  the  basis  of  a  con 
tract  which  was  executed  on  the  24th  September. 
It  would  naturally,  therefore,  be  somewhere  within 
speaking  distance  of  that  time.  Now,  in  my  state 
ment  of  the  case,  made  out  on  the  22d  October, 
1768,  and  put  into  the  hands  of  my  friend  Mr. 
Dane  a  few  days  after,  and  read  before  the  referees, 
I  said,  '  I  think  it  must  have  been  at  the  time  this 
contract  was  made  out  —  but  I  cannot  be  sure  as  to 
the  time,  —  that  Mr.  Hunt  told  me  that  they  were 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.  215 

going  to  pay  me  a  fixed  sum,  fifteen  cents  on  a 
volume,  instead  of  a  percentage ; '  adopting  this 
course  with  their  authors,  '  on  account  of  fluctua 
tions,  general  uncertainties,  and  so  forth.'  In  the 
following  January  my  vague  recollections  were  con 
firmed  by  finding  unexpectedly,  and  without  seek 
ing  it  or  knowing  that  I  had  it,  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Hunt  dated  September  23,  1764,  from  which  I 
make  the  following  extract :  '  The  contract  has 
been  delayed  for  a  sufficient  cause.'  [He  then 
gives  the  cause  of  the  delay,  namely,  Mr.  Brum- 
mell's  absence].  *  The  percentage  will  read  fifteen 
cents  per  copy,  as  the  business  times  are  fluctu 
ating  the  prices  of  manufacture  so  there  is  no  tell 
ing  to-morrow,  or  for  a  new  edition,  what  may  be 
the  expenses  of  publication.  So  we  reckon  your 
percentage  in  every  and  any  event  as  fixed  at  fif 
teen  cents  per  volume  on  all  your  books.  If  it 
should  cost  $1.50  to  make  the  volumes  you  are  sure 
of  your  author  profit  of  fifteen  cents.  The  price  at 
retail  maybe  $1.50,  $2.00,  or  $3.00,  as  the  high  or 
low  rates  of  paper,  binding,  etc.,  may  be,  but  you 
are  all  right.  This  arrangement  we  make  now 

with  all  our  authors 

" 4  As  I  write,  the  contracts  are  reported  ready,  so 
I  enclose  them.  Sign  both,  and  send  back  the  one 
marked  with  red  X.  You  keep  one  and  we  the 
other.' 


216  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

"  I  submit,  that  this  extract,  bearing  date  the  day 
before  the  contract,  has  every  sign  of  being  fresh 
information.  All  the  circumstances  combine  with 
my  own  distinct  recollection,  apart  from  them,  to 
show  that  a  new  contract  was  made  at  my  sug 
gestion,  not  with  any  view  whatever  of  changing 
the  terms,  but  because  I  thought  if  a  contract  was 
necessary  with  one  book,  it  was  with  another.  I 
did  not  know  that  there  had  been  or  was  to  be  any 
change  from  percentage  to  a  fixed  sum,  until  this 
letter  told  me.  The  retail  price  of  the  books  had 
gone  up  to  $1.50,  so  that  ten  per  cent,  and  fifteen 
cents  were  the  same.  In  this  letter  no  allusion 
whatever  is  made  to  any  previous  conversation  on 
the  subject  of  the  change  from  percentage  to  a 
fixed  sum.  Is  it  credible,  I  ask,  that  Mr.  Hunt 
should  have  sent  for  me ;  should  have  assured  me 
that  this  was  a  very  serious  matter ;  should  have  ex 
plained  it  all  to  me  over  and  over  again  ;  should 
have  repeatedly  asked  me  if  I  understood  it ; 
should  remember  the  conversation  five  years  after, 
so  vividly  that  the  intensity  of  his  convictions  can 
not  find  adequate  expression  in  simple  declaration 
but  craves  the  relief  of  an  oath  ;  is  it  credible, 
that  in  his  letter  of  the  period  he  should  have 
made  no  allusion  to  this  conversation,  but  should 
have  mentioned  the  arrangement  as  then  communi 
cated  to  me  for  the  first  time,  —  as  it  actually  was  ? 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  217 

"  But  further  than  this,  my  diary  for  1764,  care 
fully  kept,  with  not  a  day  missing,  shows  that 
during  the  whole  summer  and  autumn  preceding 
the  23d  September,  1764,  I  was  not  once  in 
Athens ! " 

[And  yet  again,  —  I  set  on  foot  an  inquiry  at  the 
time  but  did  not  get  an  answer  in  season  to  use  it 
before  the  reference,  —  Mr.  Hunt  distinctly  remem 
bered  that  he  sat  on  a  certain  sofa  in  the  new  shop 
during  the  conversation  which  was  the  basis  of  the 
contract  of  September,  1764.  But  the  firm  did 
not  move  into  the  new  shop  till  May,  1765  ! 

Now  if  Mr.  Hunt  should  gratify  himself  with  the 
wished-for  oath,  I  am  sure  that  the  accusing  angel 
who  flies  up  to  Heaven's  chancery  with  it,  will  blush 
as  he  gives  it  in,  and  the  recording  angel  as  he 
writes  it  down,  will  drop  a  tear  upon  the  word  and 
blot  it  out  forever.] 

"  But  it  may  be  urged,  giving  up  the  conversa 
tion  and  relying  only  on  the  letter,  that  in  any  event 
I  accepted  and  assented  to  the  new  contract  with  a 
full  understanding  of  its  meaning  and  effect,  and 
am  hence  bound  by  it.  This  I  deny.  The  law 
always  scrutinizes  transactions  between  parties  in 
confidential  relations,  as  father  and  son,  guardian 
and  ward,  attorney  and  client,  husband  and  wife, 
and  demands  the  utmost  frankness  and  fullest  dis 
closure  of  circumstances,  allows  no  concealments, 


218      A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

and  sets  aside  all  contracts  where  any  advantage  is 
gained  by  reason  of  the  confidence  reposed.  It 
recognizes  the  influence  of  superior  position,  and 
the  right  to  trust  in  the  party  occupying  it,  and  de 
mands  the  strictest  honor  on  his  part.  I  think  my 
position  with  my  publishers  comes  within  the  scope 
of  this  principle.  In  respect  of  the  matters  in 
volved  in  this  contract,  were  we  or  could  we  be 
equal  ?  They  were  practiced  business  men  living 
in  the  city,  with  full  knowledge  of  all  the  details 
of  their  affairs.  It  was  their  business  to  manage 
the  external  material  parts  of  books.  I  was  living 
in  the  country,  with  no  knowledge  of  these  affairs, 
and  as  I  supposed,  no  need  and  no  means  of  ac 
quiring  it.  It  was  my  part  to  attend  to  the  interior 
and  intangible  souls  of  books.  I  could  not  look 
into  their  business  without  neglecting  my  own  ;  as 
indeed  I  have  been  forced  to  do  for  sixteen  months 
past,  and  as  I  should  do  with  equal  pertinacity  for 
sixteen  years,  were  it  necessary.  I  never  sent  for 
my  accounts,  except  when  I  wanted  money  and 
wished  not  to  overdraw.  When  they  came,  I 
scarcely  did  more  than  glance  at  the  footing  to 
ascertain  what  was  due  me.  Nor  do  I  now  see  of 
what  use  it  would  have  been  to  examine  them  ever 
so  minutely.  I  was  proceeding  entirely  on  a  basis  of 
confidence,  which  I  think  I  had  a  clear  right  to  as 
sume,  and  which  was  complete  and  unimpaired 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  219 

until  the  date  mentioned  in  my  first  paper,  when 
I  awoke  to  the  fact  that  I  was  not  receiving  what 
I  seemed  to  be  entitled  to,  and  what,  on  the  closest 
scrutiny,  I  believe  to  be  my  legal  and  equitable 
dues. 

"  Such  being  the  relation  of  the  parties,  let  us 
examine  for  a  moment  —  that  is  a  pulpit  fiction, 
I  mean  for  a  good  many  moments  —  the  induce 
ments  held  out  to  me  by  my  publishers,  as  they  are 
found  in  this  letter.  I  maintain  that  the  proposed 
change  from  percentage  to  a  fixed  sum  is  so  men 
tioned  as  directly  —  I  do  not  say  intentionally  —  to 
mislead  me.  It  is  held  up  as  an  arrangement  pe 
culiarly  to  my  advantage,  as  guaranteeing  me  in  any 
event  against  a  loss  to  which  I  might  otherwise  be 
exposed,  and  as  securing  me  my  profits  by  some 
stronger  safeguard  than  I  had  before  possessed. 
But  whereas  I  was  blind  I  now  see  that  it  guaran 
tees  me  against  no  loss,  and  the  only  safeguard  it 
presents,  is  a  safeguard  against  any  benefit  which 
might  accrue  to  me  from  the  rise  in  prices.  Mr. 
Hunt  says,  "if  it  should  cost  $1.50  to  make  the 
volumes,  you  are  sure  of  your  author  profits  of 
fifteen  cents,"  —  as  if  I  should  not  have  been  just  as 
sure  of  them  had  I  received  percentage  !  "  The 
price  at  retail  may  be  $1.50,  $2.00,  or  $3.00,  as 
the  high  or  low  rates  of  paper,  binding,  etc.,  may 
be,  but  you  are  all  right,"  —  whereas  I  was  all 


220  A    BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

wrong,  for  if  I  had  kept  to  a  percentage,  and  the 
retail  price  had  become  $3.00,  I  should  have  had 
thirty  cents  instead  of  fifteen. 

"It  was  almost  immediately  after  this  contract 
that  the  retail  price  of  all  my  books  went  up  to  $2.00, 
and  has  remained  so  ever  since.  This  was  a  fact 
which  my  publishers  had  the  means  to  foresee,  but 
which  I  could  not  and  did  not  anticipate  or  even 
conjecture.  The  absolute  identity  of  ten  per  cent, 
and  a  fixed  sum  at  the  time  of  the  new  contract, 
together  with  their  representations  of  its  superior 
advantage  to  me,  and  my  confidence  in  them,  all 
combined  to  deceive  me.  I  should  have  adopted 
the  same  reasoning  and  drawn  the  same  infer 
ence  if  a  year  earlier  I  had  been  asked  to  change 
the  ten  per  cent,  to  twelve  and  a  half  cents, 
which  at  that  time  amounted  to  precisely  the 
same  thing. 

"  Had  I  been  distinctly  told  that  my  books  were 
largely  to  advance  in  price,  but  that  all  the  profit 
of  the  advance  was  to  accrue  to  the  publishers  and 
none  of  it  to  me,  should  I  have  consented  to  such 
an  arrangement  ?  The  referees  and  my  publishers, 
in  discussing  these  matters,  plunged  into  an  abyss 
of  figures  into  which  I  cannot  attempt  to  follow 
them.  I  do  not  even  understand  the  jargon  —  I 
trust  they  will  pardon  the  term  —  in  which  they  ap 
peared  to  be  communicating  ideas.  I  had  provided 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  221 

myself  with  a  friend  who  was,  I  believed,  fully  com 
petent  to  dive  as  deep  as  the  best  of  them.  But  I 
was  not  allowed  to  retain  him,  and  I  could  only  sit 
in  despair  on  the  brink  of  the  gulf  and  stare  at  the 
spectacle.  From  the  few  intelligible  sounds  that 
did  reach  me  I  infer  that  the  sacrifices  of  publishers 
in  behalf  of  authors  have  never  been  fully  appre 
ciated.  I  felt  that  in  claiming  ten  per  cent.  I  was 
guilty  of  an  extortion  second  only  to  that  of  David 
Copperfield  in  suggesting  to  Mr.  Dolloby  eighteen 
pence  as  the  price  of  '  this  here  little  weskit.'  '  I 
should  rob  my  family,'  says  Mr.  Dolloby, '  if  I  was  to 
offer  ninepence  for  it.'  It  is  gratifying  to  recollect 
that  the  last  winter  was  a  mild  one,  so  that  the 
cases  of  extreme  suffering  must  have  been  rare.  If 
it  were  not  for  an  occasional  glimpse  at  our  imper 
tinent  income-returns  one  would  be  inconsolable. 
As  it  is,  would  the  referees  count  it  as  bringing  in 
new  facts  if  I  should  send  one  or  two  postage- 
stamps  to  the  retired  clergyman  whose  sands  of  life 
have  nearly  run  out,  and  beg  a  receipt  for  returning 
an  income  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  on  a  bi-annual 
cash  profit  of  three  hundred  dollars  ? 

"  But  though  I  cannot  bring  up  a  fact  from  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  I  can  see  a  fact  when  it  stares 
me  in  the  face  on  land.  If  there  was  any  reason 
except  uncovenanted  mercies  for  advancing  my 
copyright  from  twelve  and  a  half  cents  to  fifteen, 


222  A   BATTLE   OF  THE   BOOKS. 

when  the  books  went  from  $1.25  to  $1.50,  it  must 
have  applied  with  equal  force  to  advancing  my 
copyright  from  fifteen  to  twenty  cents  when  the 
books  advanced  from  $1.50  to  $2.00.  I  deny  that 
the  increased  cost  of  doing  business  should  be  reck 
oned  solely  on  the  side  of  the  publisher  as  the  jus 
tification  of  his  receipts  and  profits,  while  the  author 
should  be  held  down  to  the  same  fixed  sum.  The 
same  causes  that  increased  the  cost  of  doing  busi 
ness  to  Messrs.  Brummell  &  Hunt  as  publishers, 
increased  in  quite  as  large  a  ratio  the  cost  of  my 
doing  business  as  an  author.  Every  conceivable 
form  of  expenditure  to  which  I  was  subjected  was 
all  the  time  increasing,  and  I  was  as  much  in  need 
of  a  pro  raid  increase  of  receipts  from  my  books  as 
the  publishers  could  be.  But  Messrs.  Brummell  & 
Hunt  take  the  opposite  ground  and  maintain  that 
no  matter  what  the  added  expenditure  of  the  author 
may  necessarily  become,  only  a  fixed  sum  shall  be 
allowed  to  meet  it,  while  the  vast  increase  of  re 
ceipts  and  of  profits  shall  be  absorbed  by  the  pub 
lisher  alone.  If  this  be  justice,  equity,  or  law,  I 
think  we  would  better  stop  hammering  on  the  ju 
bilee  house,  and  begin  back  again  at  the  Ten  Com 
mandments.1 

1  The  "jubilee  house  "  seems  to  be  a  reference  to  the  institution  of 
the  jubilee  year  among  the  Hebrews,  —  a  year  in  which  impoverished 
families  might  redeem  the  property  from  which,  at  any  time  during 
fifty  years  previous,  they  had  been  forced  to  part.  Thus  we  are  told 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  223 

"  But  though  I  was  not  able  to  follow  my  pub 
lishers  through  the  technics  and  tactics  of  their  busi 
ness,  there  were  two  ways  in  which  I  might  have 
formed  and  presented  some  opinion  of  the  justice  of 
their  course.  Had  I  been  allowed,  I  would  have 
called  in  other  publishers  and  have  asked  them 
what  would  be  a  fair  price  for  books  with  the  char 
acter,  dress,  and  sales  of  mine.  I  do  not  see  that 
there  could  be  any  unfairness  in  this.  They  surely 
would  not  be  likely  to  decide  unjustly  against  their 
own  craft,  and  they  surely  would  be  able  to  give  an 
intelligent  answer. 

O 

"From  the  inquiries  which  Mr.  Dane  has  made 
among  other  publishers,  I  believe  that  the  sum 
which  Messrs.  Brummell  &  Hunt  allege  that  they 
have  made  on  all  my  books  represents  much  more 
nearly  the  profits  which  they  made  on  a  single  one 
of  them,  '  City  Lights,'  and  that  the  profits  which 
accrued  to  themselves  from  the  rise  in  the  prices  of 
books  are  much  larger  than  they  represent  them. 

"  It  was  for  the  purpose  of  elucidating  this  matter, 
also,  that  the  questions  were  sent  to  Messrs.  Hunt, 
Parry,  &  Co.  some  days  before  the  reference  be- 
that  if  a  man  purchased  of  the  Levites,  the  house  that  was  sold  should 
go  out  in  the  year  of  jubilee.  Such  a  house  might  long  be  known  in 
the  neighborhood  as  the  "  jubilee  house."  The  hammering  spoken  of 
was  probably  connected  with  the  repairing  of  some  such  lately  re 
deemed  house,  and  seems  to  point  to  an  Eastern  origin  and  locality 
for  this  narrative.  —  NOTE  BY  EDITOR. 


224  A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

gan.  Had  I  known  the  profits  of  their  firm,  the 
number  and  sales  of  their  books,  and  the  profits  of 
their  periodicals,  I  should  have  been  in  a  position 
to  judge  of  the  correctness  of  their  statements  re 
garding  the  cost  and  profits  of  my  books.  Mr. 
Parry  objects  to  such  testimony,  as  he  says  they 
may  make  a  great  deal  of  money  in  outside  ways, 
by  speculating  in  butter,  for  instance.  Precisely. 
But  they  advertise  themselves  as  a  publishing  house 
solely,  not  as  a  publishing  and  butter  house.  It  is 
Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.,  publishers,  not  publishers  and 
dairymen.  When  I  am  charged  in  my  books  with 
the  cost  of  store-rent,  I  wish  to  know  whether  the 
rent  is  for  packing-cases  or  butter-tubs.  I  am 
charged  for  insurance  and  clerk-hire.  How  can  I 
tell  whether  the  insurance  and  clerk-hire  cover  my 
share  alone  or  whether  they  may  not  also  embrace 
the  safety  and  the  management  of  the  "  Adriatic  ?  " 
There  is  a  separate  item  for  the  cost  of  advertising ; 
but  I  am  told  that  in  a  single  year  the  receipts  of 
the  firm  for  advertising  in  their  periodicals  are  ten 
thousand  dollars  more  than  the  cost  to  them  of  all 
the  advertisements  which  they  publish  elsewhere. 
Undoubtedly  the  sagacity  of  the  firm  in  managing 
their  periodicals  has  much  to  do  with  that  circula 
tion  which  makes  them  so  valuable  as  advertising 
mediums  ;  but  is  it  not  just  possible  that  the  quality 
of  the  writing  has  some  slight  influence  on  their 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  225 

circulation.  Yet  not  only  are  the  authors  of  the 
books  and  of  the  magazine  articles  often  one  and 
the  same,  but  the  articles  themselves  are  frequently 
but  extracts  from  the  books,  and  the  books  them 
selves  are  frequently  made  up  in  part  or  in  whole 
from  the  articles.  I  do  not  mention  this  as  an  ad 
vantage  to  the  publishers  and  a  disadvantage  to  the 
author,  but  simply  to  show  that  the  book  business 
and  the  magazine  business  are  so  interwoven  that 
an  investigation  of  the  one,  to  be  exhaustive,  must 
be,  to  some  extent,  an  investigation  of  the  other. 
Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  must  give  us  all  the 
data  if  we  are  to  make  their  '  sums  prove,'  as  the 
children  say.  As  they  decline  to  do  this,  and  as  I 
never  learned  to  '  cipher  in  turkey  rule,'  they  have 
everything  their  own  way  in  arithmetic. 

"  Another  point  in  Mr.  Hunt's  letter  of  explana 
tion  was,  as  he  says,  '  This  arrangement  we  make 
now  with  all  our  authors.' 

"  When  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Hunt  about  the  last  of 
August,  1768,  that,  contrary  to  what  I  had  under 
stood  his  assertion  to  be,  several  authors  had  ten 
per  cent.,  and  therefore  I  thought  I  ought  to  have 
ten  per  cent.,  the  firm  did  not  deny  my  premise, 
but  simply  said,  'In  your  letter  you  assume  that 
we  have  but  one  set  of  terms  with  the  various 
authors  whose  works  we  publish.  In  this  you  are 
in  error.  What  we  pay  to  any  individual  author  is 


226  A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

a  matter  quite  between  him,  or  her,  and  ourselves, 
and  it  is  not  gur  custom  to  make  one  author  the 
criterion  for  another.  Many  elements  enter  into 
the  case  that  would  make  a  uniform  rate  impracti 
cable.  Independently  of  other  considerations,  the 
varying  cost  of  manufacture  caused  by  different 
styles  of  publication  would  alone  preclude  such  an 
arrangement.  We  must  therefore  decline  to  ad 
mit  such  an  argument  into  the  case.' 

"  The  fact  is,  it  was  not  necessary  to  admit  it, 
since  it  was  already  there  —  placed  there  by  Mr. 
Hunt's  own  hands.  It  was  offered  as  an  induce 
ment  for  me  to  accept  the  new  terms,  "  this  arrange 
ment  we  now  make  with  all  our  authors."  Either, 
then,  Messrs.  Brummell  &  Hunt  do  make  a  uniform 
arrangement  with  all  their  authors  or  they  do  not. 
If  they  do,  this  last  letter  cannot  be  a  correct  state 
ment  of  facts,  and  the  question  arises,  what  is  that 
uniform  arrangement  ?  If  they  do  not,  then  Mr. 
Hunt's  letter  of  September  23,  1764,  cannot  be 
true,  and  the  representation  which  he  ^held  out  to 
me  of  a  uniform  mode  of  payment  as  an  induce 
ment  for  me  to  come  into  the  arrangement,  was  not 
a  correct  representation.  To  ascertain  whether  or 
not  they  did  make  such  an  arrangement,  I  applied 
to  such  authors  as  were  within  reach  to  know  what 
were  and  had  been  their  rates  of  payment.  A. 
writes,  4I  have  always  received  a  percentage. 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  227 

I  remember  no  change  in  1764,  unless  that  B. 
&  H.  about  that  time  (perhaps  earlier),  without 
my  asking  it,  raised  the  sum  they  paid  me  for  a 
poem,  by  one  third.'  B.  says,  '  I  have  been  con 
tent  with  ten  per  cent.'  Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry,  & 
Co.  write  to  C.,  'Even  D.  now  has  only  ten  per 
cent.'  E.  says,  'I  never  published  but  one  book 

(prose)  with  Brummell  &  Hunt I  received 

on  this  the  usual  beggarly  percentage.'  F.  says, 
'  Generally  we  go  on  the  system  of  half  profits.  .  . 
.  .  In  regard  to  '  Old  King  Cole,'  they  print  and 
sell  and  allow  me  a  certain  sum  on  each  copy 
sold.'  G.  says,  '  Brummell  &  Hunt  have,  I  believe, 
allowed  me  ten  per  cent,  on  the  retail  price  of  my 
books.''  H.  says,  '  I  believe  it  (the  book)  was  to 
have  yielded  ten  per  cent,  if  anything.'  I.  says, 
'Messrs.  H.,  P.,  &  Co.  have  published  four  books 
for  me.  The  three  first  sell  for  $1.25,  and  I  receive 
twelve  cents  each  copy.  The  last  is  a  joint  affair, 
published  by  subscription.'  K.  says,  '  All  my  con 
tracts  have  been  for  one  half  the  net  profits.  The 
two  volumes  published  by  the  Troubadours,  were 
offered  to  Parry,  but  as  he  wanted  to  make 
other  terms,  I  declined,  and  they  went  to  the 
Troubadours.  This  is  the  sum  of  my  transactions 
with  Messrs.  B.  &  H.' 

"  On  Friday,  April  16,  Mr.  Dane  sent  to  Messrs. 
Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.   certain   questions,  in   writing, 


228  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

which  the  referees  now  hold,  asking  them  to  cite 
their  contracts  with  other  authors,  and  giving  a  list 
of  names.  Did  they  meet  this  question  fairly  ?  On 
Friday,  April  23,  they  made  their  reply  to  my  state 
ment.  On  the  question  of  contracts,  they  cited  A.'s 
collected  poems,  B.'s  poems,  F.'s  '  Old  King  Cole,' 
M.'s  works  (collected),  a  part  of  which  had  to  be 
bought  from  another  publisher,  and  the  works  of 
Theodore  Winthrop,  which  I  believe  were  not 
asked  for.  All  these  they  cited  as  examples  of 
works  on  which  similar  contracts  to  mine  had  been 
made,  and  they  cited  no  others.  If  these  persons 
had  written  no  other  works  this  would  have  been 
fair  as  far  as  it  goes.  But  these  persons  had. writ 
ten  other  works,  and  I  maintain  that  Messrs.  Hunt, 
Parry,  &  Co.  had  selected  out  of  these  works  those 
that  were  most  unlike  mine  in  scope,  style,  cost, 
and  probable  circulation,  and  said  nothing  whatever 
about  books  by  the  same  authors  which  would  more 
nearly  resemble  mine  in  these  respects.  A.,  be 
sides  his  collected  poems,  his  blue  and  gold  and 
cabinet  editions  of  his  poems,  has  written  separate 
poems  and  prose  works,  which  have  been  issued  in 
separate  editions,  and  which,  therefore,  furnish  a 
far  more  proper  basis  of  comparison  with  mine. 
But  about  these  separate  books  they  said  nothing. 
Of  his  separate  books,  a,  b,  c,  d,  e,  they  made  no 
mention.  They  brought  up  B.  as  one  whose  works 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.  229 

were  treated  in  the  same  way  as  mine;  but  they 
mentioned  only  his  Poems,  blue  and  gold,  and  his 
Songs.  They  never  hinted  that  he  had  printed 
and  they  had  published  any  prose  book  for  him. 
Yet  it  is  these  prose  books,  his  novels  and  essays, 
which  form  the  true  basis  of  comparison  between 
him  and  me.  They  cited  F.,  but  they  cited  only 
his  '  Old  King  Cole,'  which  they  did  not  origi 
nally  publish,  and  which  they  own  by -a  peculiar 
bargain,  and  said  nothing  about  the  original  books 
which  they  have  published  for  him,  novels,  essays, 
and  stories.  They  cited  M.,  but  while  bringing  in  his 
collected  poems,  which  were  entangled  in  a  bargain 
with  some  previous  contumacious  publisher,  one 
Fussey,  they  said  nothing  of  his  separate  volumes. 
They  cited  Winthrop,  but  Winthrop,  like  Marley, 
was  dead  to  begin  with ;  and  if  the  living  have  hard 
work  to  hold  their  own  against  this  enterprising 
firm,  what  can  be  expected  of  the  dead  ? 

"  Here  they  rested  their  case  so  far  as  the  con 
tracts  go ;  but  as  a  desire  was  expressed  to  see  the 
contracts,  they  promised  to  produce  them  next 
morning.  On  Saturday,  accordingly,  we  began 
with  one  set  of  contracts  which  proved  to  be  a 
most  perplexing  medley  —  a  sort  of  contra  dance 
between  written  contracts  and  verbal  agreements 
with  the  rattling  of  stereotype  plates  for  tambour 
ines.  As  the  government  of  Russia  is  said  to  be 


230  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

despotism  tempered  by  assassination,  so  the  business 
of  Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  may  be  said  to  be 
conducted  on  the  basis  of  written  contracts  annulled 
by  verbal  agreements.  If  we  were  met  for  the 
purpose  of  preparing  a  Mars  Hill  House  Shorter 
Catechism  and  should  ask,  '  What  is  'the  chief  end 
of  a  written  contract?'  Messrs.  H.,  P.,  &  Co. 
would  promptly  reply,  '  A  written  contract's  chief 
end  is  to  be  canceled  by  a  verbal  agreement  and 
annihilated  forever  !  '  According  to  their  practice, 
it  seems  that  we  all  agree,  in  writing,  as  to  what 
we  will  do,  for  the  sake  of  saying  afterwards  that 
we  won't  do  it. 

"  However,  plodding  my  way  along  as  best  I 
could  through  the  contracts,  with  Mr.  Markman's 
kind  assistance,  I  found,  or  thought  I  found,  that  for 
one  book  its  author  received  at  first  twenty  per  cent., 
he  owning  the  stereotype  plates.  Whether  this  was 
by  written  contract  or  verbal  agreement  Mr.  Mark- 
man  does  not  recollect.  From  1762  to  1764,  he  re 
ceived  twenty  cents  a  volume,  the  retail  price,  mean 
while,  having  advanced  from  one  to  two  dollars. 
Since  then  a  written  contract  gives  him  twenty 
cents  a  volume,  the  retail  price  being  two  dollars. 

"  A  second  book  by  the  same  author  is  on  the 
same  principle,  except  that  there  is  no  written 
contract. 

"  A  third,  in  1762,  either  by  contract  or  verbal 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  281 

agreement,  was  receiving  twenty  per  cent,  on  $1.00, 
retail  price,  the  author  owning  stereotype  plates. 
In  1764  it  was  changed  verbally  from  percentage  to 
twenty  cents  a  volume,  the  price  having  gone  up 
to  two  dollars. 

"  While  I  was  painfully  thridding  these  labyrin 
thine  ways,  I  was  arrested  by  a  proposition  from 
some  quarter  that  time  should  be  saved  by  intrust 
ing  the  further  examination  of  these  contracts  to 

o 

the  referees.  I  had  every  confidence  in  the  refer 
ees,  but  how  could  I  make  my  argument  concerning 
these  contracts  without  having  seen  them  ?  It  was 
said  that  I  should  be  present  and  examine  them 
with  the  referees ;  but  the  referees  were  about  to 
disperse  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth  —  or,  as 
there  are  only  two  of  them,  I  suppose  it  might  be 
more  strictly  accurate  to  say,  the  two  hemispheres 
—  not  to  meet  again  till  Thursday,  when  I  was  to 
make  my  final  statement.  Mr.  Markman  then  said 
that  he  would  have  the  principal  p'oints  of  the  con 
tracts  copied  and  sent  to  me  either  Saturday  after 
noon  or  Monday  ;  but  on  Tuesday  I  received  a  let 
ter  from  him  saying  that  his  time  has  been  so  much 
occupied  with  matters  relating  to  Mr.  Hunt's  ab 
sence,  that  he  has  not  had  time  to  complete  the 
copyright  memorandum  which  he  promised  to  send 
me,  but  will  surely  send  it  to-morrow  —  all  of 
which  I  do  not  in  the  least  doubt,  but  it  does  not 


232  A  BATTLE    OF  THE   BOOKS. 

alter  the  fact  that  the  information  concerning  the 
contracts,  for  which  I  asked  ten  days  ago,  has  not 
yet  been  furnished  ;  that  I  am  to  hand  in  my  argu 
ment  on  Wednesday,  and  find  myself  at  home  to 
write  up  the  play  of  Hamlet  with  a  pretty  impor 
tant  part  of  Hamlet  left  out. 

"From  what  goes  in,  however,  I  am  left,  like 
Providence  among  the  heathen,  not  without  wit 
ness.  ,  Accepting  alleged  verbal  agreements,  it  seems 
that  the  author  cited,  in  changing  from  percentage 
to  a  fixed  sum,  came  down  to  a  sum  fixed  as  high 
as  the  highest  of  my  percentage.  That  is,  he,  at 
his  lowest,  is  precisely  where  I  was  at  my  highest. 
My  sole  ambition  was  to  climb  as  high  as  the  point 
where  he  stopped  falling !  Does  this  fairly  make 
out  the  assertion,  '  this  arrangement  we  make  now 
with  all  our  authors  '  ? 

"  But  I  cannot  reason  upon  contracts  which  I 
have  never  seen.  I  fall  back  upon  the  statements 
made  to  me  by  the  authors  I  have  quoted,  and  on 
this  ground  I  affirm  that  I  have  not  fared  as  the 
other  authors,  even  of  Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co., 
have  fared.  Neither  can  I  accept  their  allegations 
of  verbal  agreements  which  cancel  written  contracts. 
The  only  verbal  agreement  I  know  anything  about 
is  one  that  never  existed.  I  did  not  intend  to  men 
tion  Mrs. any  further  than  I  have  done,  but 

Mr.  Parry  has  cited  her  case  and  I  may  therefore 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  233 

be  permitted  to  say  that  verbal  agreements  and  ex 
planations  were  brought  to  bear  on  her  in  the  same 
way.  In  a  letter  to  me  dated  August  9,  1768,  she 
says,  '  A  letter  arrived  from  Mr.  Hunt  [Thursday] 
telling  me  that  he  had  explained  as  I  knew,  just 
what  he  had  never  once  explained  as  he  knew  — 
and  I  read  it  and  denied  totally  all  his  assertions.' 
August  20,  1768,  she  says,  '  Do  you  see  all  the 
contracts  Mr.  Hunt  tells  Mr.  E.  were  verbal.  I  do 

not  believe  Mr. ever  consented  to  change 

to  ten  per  cent.,  because  he  would  have  told  me, 
and  besides  you  see  he  had  fifteen  per  cent,  for 
the  very  last  book  he  gave  them  !  .  .  .  .  And  now 
they  say  he  made  a  verbal  agreement  with  Mr. 
Brummell  who  is  dead  and  cannot  say  anything. 
But  they  show  no  papers.' 

"  I  have  been  a  practitioner  at  law  but  four  days, 
and  it  becomes  me  to  be  modest ;  yet  I  will  hazard 
the  remark,  that  a  verbal  agreement  without  wit 
nesses,  between  two  dead  men,  is  as  near  nothing  as 
anything  in  the  way  of  evidence  can  well  be. 

"  Mr.  Parry  affirms  that  Mrs.  's  sister 

afterwards  examined  their  books  and  found  nothing 
wrong  therein,  and  that  Mrs.  was  subse 
quently  satisfied.  I  saw  Mrs. in  Paris  on 

her  way  to  Asia,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  she 
was  very  far  from  satisfied,  but  that  she  was  wor 
ried  out,  and  preferred  peace  to  pence.  One  can 


234  A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

imagine  Miss  hunting   up  Messrs.   Hunt, 

Parry,  &  Co.'s  account  books  in  pursuit  of  knowl 
edge  ! 

"  Neither  do  I  accept  accounts  as  proofs  of  a  ver 
bal  agreement.  My  accounts  ran  on  for  years,  un 
challenged,  without  any  such  agreement,  though 
that  agreement  is  now  alleged  as  the  basis  of  the 
accounts.  J.  wrote  to  me,  May  11,  1768,  '  In  the 
accounts  of  sale  I  believe  the  price  paid  me  was  ten 
per  cent,  of  the  original  retail  price,  that  is,  the 
"  Ambrosia  "  was  published  at  a  dollar  fifty  and  I 
have  always  received  fifteen  cents  a  copy  on  that. 
When  paper  became  so  high  during  the  war,  the 
price  of  the  book  was  raised  to  $1.75,  but  I  am 
pretty  sure  I  never  received  seventeen  and  a  half 
cents,  but  always  only  fifteen,  yet,  as  the  papers  are 
at  home,  I  cannot  be  certain ;  only  in  a  little  ac 
count  of  sale  sent  here  this  winter  the  reckoning 
was  at  fifteen  cents  a  copy  for  one,  and  twelve  and 
a  half  cents  for  the  other,  but  the  account  covered 
a  space  of  three  years  during  which  the  books  had 
been  selling  at  $1.75  and  $1.50  respectively;  so 
that,  literally,  he  has  not  been  paying  me  ten  per 
cent. ;  but  I  did  not  think  much  about  it,  taking 
it  for  granted  that  the  extra  price  was  due  to  hard 
times.  But  I  do  not  know  why  our  labor  is  the 
only  labor  to  remain  low-priced.'  Here  it  will  be 
seen  that  for  three  years  J.'s  accounts  might  have 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  235 

been  cited  at  any  time  as  proof  of  a  verbal  agree 
ment,  though  no  such  agreement  had  ever  been 
made  or  even  alleged.  Messrs.  H.,  P.,  &  Co.  may 
say  that  they  have  a  right  to  infer  that  silence  gives 
consent,  and  that  authors  have  no  right  to  be  so 
loose  in  money  matters.  Leaving  out  any  silence 
which  might  arise  from  delicacy,  I  would  say,  it  is 
true  that  they  ought  to  be  more  accurate  and  sys 
tematic,  but  surely  we  may  say  to  our  publishers, 
as  the  crab  remarked  to  his  father,  when  rebuked 
for  going  sidewise,  '  Gladly,  my  father,  would  we 
walk  straight,  if  we  could  first  see  you  setting  the 
example !  ' 

"  But  authors  are  not  always  to  be  blamed  for 
their  silence.  We  are  not  very  large  buyers  of  our 
own  books  and  do  not  always  know  when  the  price  is 
raised.  Surely  we  cannot  be  expected  to  sit  inflexi 
bly  upon  our  property,  like  Miss  Betsy  Trotwood, 
watching  the  rates  of  sale.  It  was  a  considerable 
time  after  L.'s  story-book  advanced  in  price  before 
its  author  discovered  it;  as  soon  as  she  did,  she 
made  a  note  of  it,  and  after  a  little  trouble  succeeded 
in  having  her  contract  fulfilled.  But  any  time 
between  the  change  and  her  discovery  of  it,  her 
account  might  have  been  alleged  as  proof  of  a  ver 
bal  agreement  which  did  not  exist.  I  am,  of  course, 
not  saying  that  it  would  have  been  so,  but  that  it 
might  have  been  so.  What  we  want,  therefore,  is 
facts,  Mr.  Gradgrind. 


236  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

"  Since  writing  this,  Mr.  Markman's  memoranda 
of  contracts  have  put  in  an  appearance,  and  if  cor 
rect,  show  beyond  question,  that  their  letter  of 
September,  1768,  was  true,  and  that  the  statement 
in  Mr.  Hunt's  September  1764  letter  was  not  true. 
There  is  scarcely  an  approach  to  uniformity  in  the 
arrangements  made  with  authors.  Taking  those 
books  which  most  resemble  mine,  the  contracts  are 
of  every  species.  There  are  contracts  for  twenty 
per  cent,  where  the  author  owns  the  plates,  and 
ten  per  cent,  where  the  publisher  owns  them. 
Books  that  retail  at  $1.25  pay  the  author  ten  cents 
per  volume,  or  fifteen  cents  per  volume,  he  owning 
the  stereotype  plates,  or  twelve  cents  per  volume, 
or  twelve  and  a  half  cents  per  volume  ;  books  that 
retail  at  $1.50  pay  the  author  fifteen  cents,  and  ten 
cents  ;  books  that  retail  at  seventy-five  cents  pay  five 
per  copy ;  books  that  retail  at  $1.00  pay  twenty  cents 
per  copy ;  books  that  retail  at  $2.00  and  $1.75 
do  the  same  ;  books  that  retail  at  $1.12  pay  ten 
cents.  When  a  verbal  agreement  is  alleged  as  a 
substitute  for  a  written  contract,  the  substitute  also 
varies.  Some  of  the  contracts  are  for  half  profits. 
I  do  not  find  a  single  example  of  a  book  that  retails 
at  $2.00  and  pays  the  author  fifteen  cents.  I  shall 
depend  upon  the  referees  to  discover  any  fault  in 
my  figures,  but  I  believe  they  are  correct.  When 
a  change  is  made  from  percentage  to  a  fixed  sum, 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE   BOOKS.  237 

there  is  generally  a  decrease  to  the  author,  but  not 
so  great  as  in  my  case.  The  aggregate  of  one  set 
of  books  at  a  percentage  was  $1.36| ;  after  the 
change  to  a  fixed  sum  it  amounted  to  $1.68.  On 
some  of  the  books  there  has  been  no  change.  So 
that  when  Mr.  Hunt  says,  "this  arrangement  we 
make  now  with  all  our  authors,"  whether  he  means 
that  they  change  from  percentage  to  a  fixed  sum, 
or  whether  he  means  that  they  make  with  all  the 
same  ratio  of  decrease  that  they  make  with  me, 
he  is  equally  incorrect.  There  is  no  sense  in  which 
his  words  can  be  understood,  in  which  they  are 
true." 

[There  is  one  sense  in  which  they  may  be  counted 
correct.  If  we  construe  them  to  mean,  "  We  pay 
all  our  authors  just  as  little  as  we  think  they  will 
stand.  You,  being  rather  the  most  pliable  of 
any,  will  bear  the  greatest  reduction,  and  we  have 
accordingly  reduced  you  to  the  lowest  point,"  they 
appear  to  be  marvellously  accurate.] 

"  I  claim,  therefore,  that  I  never  assented  to  the 
second  contract  because  I  never  understood  it,  and 
because  the  representations  made  to  me  as  induce 
ments  were  not  correct.  I  claim  that  Mr.  Hunt's 
letter  was  calculated  (I  do  not  say  intentionally) 
to  mislead  and  deceive  me  ;  that  I  was  misled  and 
deceived  by  it,  and  as  the  result  of  this  deception, 
I  signed  a  contract  which  deprived  me  of  my  plain- 


238  A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

est  rights  in  the  premises ;  and  the  accounts  subse 
quently  rendered  were  accepted  by  me  in  the  same 
good  faith  with  which  I  sought  the  contract,  with 
scarcely  an  examination,  certainly  without  the  least 
suspicion. 

"  Of  the  books  not  named  in  the  contracts  I  be 
lieve  I  need  say  little.  Even  had  the  second  con 
tract  been  valid,  no  understanding  can  be  inferred 
from  it  as  to  the  five  books  not  included  in  it.  Why 
should  the  second  contract  be  taken  as  a  guide  any 
more  than  the  first?  The  first  was  made  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  the  second  under  peculiar 
ones  which  soon  changed.  They  did  not  them 
selves  understand  that  the  second  contract  governed 
all  the  rest,  for  they  did  not  pay  me  fifteen  cents 
but  only  ten  cents  on  '  Holidays.'  They  say  that 
it  was  a  small  book ;  but  so  was  '  The  Rights  of 
Men.'  Yet  '  Holidays  '  contained  141  pages,  was 
retailed  at  $1.50,  and  paid  me  ten  cents,  while 
'  The  Rights  of  Men '  contained  212  pages,  re 
tailed  at  $1.50,  and  paid  me  fifteen  cents  —  no  ac 
counts  being  rendered  till  after  the  trouble  began. 
Mr.  Parry  says  that  4  Holidays '  was  a  different 
kind  of  book,  a  children's  book  with  pictures,  and 
therefore  he  supposed  they  did  not  class  it  with  the 
others,  but  simply  fixed  a  price  which  they  thought 
equitable.  But  X.'s  story-book  was  also  a  juvenile 
book,  with  pictures,  of  the  same  class  as  mine ;  yet 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  239 

on  that  they  paid  by  contract  ten  per  cent.  C.'s 
story-book  was  also  an  illustrated  juvenile,  and  on 
that  they  paid  half  profits. 

"But  I  hold  that  the  contract  pretending  to 
cover  '  Dies  Alba,'  '  Rocks  of  Offense,'  and  «  Old 
Miasmas,'  is  inoperative  and  void,  and  cannot 
regulate  the  compensation  to  which  I  am  entitled 
by  copyright  on  these  three  books ;  still  less  can 
it  regulate  the  compensation  to  which  I  am  entitled 
on  subsequent  ones.  If  a  contract  is  void  in  the 
direct  operation  claimed  for  it,  its  inferential  opera 
tion  must  be  shadowy  indeed.  With  all  due  re 
spect,  I  hold  that  it  is  little  less  than  absurd  for 
Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  to  claim  that  I  am 
bound  to  accept  that  contract  as  the  basis  of  settle 
ment  for  subsequent  publications.  I  hold  that  on 
these  five  books,  published  under  no  contract,  I 
may  claim  what  is  just  according  to  the  usages  of 
the  trade. 

"  I  do  not  know  what  may  be  the  result  of  the 
inquiries  of  the  referees  among  publishers.  Mr. 
Dane,  as  his  letter  shows,  made  careful  investiga 
tions,  and  found  no  one  who  did  not  say  that  ten 
per  cent,  was  the  minimum  price.  I  believe  that 
no  respectable  publisher  can  be  found  in  the  coun 
try  who,  regarding  the  cost  of  the  books  and  the 
number  sold,  will  not  say  that  ten  per  cent,  on  the 
retail  price  is  the  very  lowest  sum  that  an  honorable 


240  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

publisher  would  have  paid  me  had  the  whole  mat 
ter  been  referred  to  his  own  honor. 

"  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  scour  the  country  for  evi 
dence,  since  Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  recognize 
such  a  usage  themselves,  even  if  they  do  not  follow 
it.  On  what  other  principle  did  they  allow  me  ten 
per  cent,  in  the  beginning  on  "  City  Lights,"  when 
I  was  a  new  author,  and  they  had  the  whole  matter 
of  price  in  their  own  hands  ?  During  the  reference 
they  have  also  offered  to  return  to  ten  per  cent. 
Why  should  they  offer  ten  per  cent,  in  the  begin 
ning,  and  ten  per  cent,  at  the  close,  and  skip  about 
meanwhile  from  six  and  two  thirds  to  seven  and  a 
half  per  cent,  according  to  their  fancy  or  caprice  ? 
This  is  a  specimen  of  piping  on  the  part  of  publish 
ers,  and  dancing  on  the  part  of  authors,  that  I  do 
not  propose  to  take  part  in. 

"  My  claim  to  compensation  on  five  hundred  of 
the  fifteen  hundred  books  exempted  in  the  first  edi 
tion  of  '  City  Lights,'  needs  no  labored  argument. 
Their  attempt  to  prove  from  their  books  that  I  had 
due  notice  of  the  fact,  proves  that  I  ought  to  have 
had  notice,  while  the  accounts  received  and  pro 
duced  by  me  prove  that  no  such  notice  was  given  me. 
Mr.  Markman  thinks  it  may  have  been  lost  in  the 
mail,  but  the  accounts  which  I  hold  cover  the  whole 
time  of  my  transactions  with  Messrs.  Brummell  & 
Hunt,  and  I  submit  that  the  mails  shall  be  believed 


A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  241 

innocent  till  they  are  proved  guilty,  and  that  Messrs. 
Brummell  &  Hunt  must  be  nipped  in  the  bud,  or 
they  will  soon,  as  Sidney  Smith  says,  be  speaking 
disrespectfully  of  the  equator.  Mr.  Parry  admits 
that  without  explanation  the  word  edition  means  a 
thousand  dopies.  He  also  admits  that  in  all  cases 
when  more  than  a  thousand  copies  are  exempted, 
the  specific  number  is  given.  He  believes  mine  ,to 
be  the  only  exception  to  this  rule.  He  alleges  as 
the  reason  of  this  unusual  exemption  the  unusual 
cost  of  my  books,  saying  that  they  cost  a  great  deal 
more  than  any  other  on  their  list.  To  this  I  reply 
that  I  should  have  been  told  in  the  beginning  that 
they  did  or  would  cost  more  than  others.  Mr. 
Markman  then  brings  forward  a  letter  of  mine  to 
prove  that  I  was  told,  and  did  know  that  the 
books  cost  more.  This  letter  bears  date  September 
20th,  1762,  two  days  after  the  publication  of « City 
Lights,'  and  the  extract  says  :  '  The  fact  that  I  wish 
to  impress  upon  your  mind  is  that  you  have  tricked 
out  my  book  so  beautifully  that  nothing  could  be 
lovelier.  You  would  not  have  done  it  though,  if  I 
had  not  threatened  you  within  an  inch  of  your  life, 
would  you  ?  [etc.,  etc.,  etc.]  But  now  see,  I 
never  thought  till  yesterday  that  they  must  cost 
more  than  the  other  way,  and  I  have  been  distressed 
all  along  and  this  makes  me  more  so,'  etc. 

"  This  does  not  prove  what  Mr.  Markman  intro- 


242  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

duced  it  to  prove,  but  it  proves  just  the  opposite, 
which  is  the  next  best  thing.  It  shows  that  until 
the  day  after  the  book  was  published  I  had  never 
thought  of  the  book's  cost,  and  that  then  the  thought 
was  spontaneous,  not  suggested  to  me  by  others.  It 
proves  beyond  question  that  nothing  had  ever  been 
said  to  me  about  it. 

"  On  one  or  two  other  points,  not  strictly  necessary 
to  the  case  but  introduced  by  Mr.  Parry,  I  must 
beg  a  moment's  forbearance.  Mr.  Parry,  feeling 
that  my  claim  involves  fraud,  reads  extracts  from 
my  early  letters,  to  show  that  I  was  very  urgent  to 
publish  • '  City  Lights,'  that  I  expressed  the  great 
est  confidence  in  them,  and  that,  in  short,  I  came  to 
them  in  such  a  way  as,  to  use  his  own  language, 
would  have  almost  held  out  a  temptation  to  defraud 
me.  So  that  if  they  had  been  disposed  to  defraud 
me  at  all  they  would  have  done  it  then. 

"  Fraud  is  a  hard  word,  and  I  believe  I  have  not 
used  it ;  but  if  Mr.  Parry  insists,  I  will  say  that 
the  exemption  of  the  fifteen  hundred  books  under 
cover  of  an  edition  occurred  with  the  first  edition 
of  my  first  book,  and  I  really  don't  see  how  they 
could  have  begun  much  earlier  if  they  had  tried. 

"  Mr.  Parry  mentions  as  a  proof  of  their  friendly 
intentions,  that  they  desired  to  refer  the  whole  mat 
ter  to  Mr.  Rogers  because  they  thought  he  was  my 
friend ;  that  they  offered  to  refer  it  to  my  friend 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  243 

Mr.  Brook,  of  whom  they  knew  nothing,  and  to  my 
friend  Mr.  Greatheart,  of  whom  they  knew  very 
little.  It  will  be  observed  that  they  did  not  once 
ask  me  to  select  a  friend,  but  generously  took  the 
whole  burden  of  the  selection  upon  themselves. 

"  The  first  person  to  whom  they  offered  to  refer  it 
was  Mr.  Rogers,  and  I  accepted  him  gladly.  I  was 
so  much  in  earnest  that  I  wrote  him  myself  begging 
him  not  to  decline  —  and  this  although  I  had  never 
seen  him.  On  account  of  his  health  he  felt  obliged 
to  decline  ;  but  before  he  had  declined,  Messrs. 
Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  proposed  to  relinquish  him,  for 
what  reason  I  do  not  know.  They  proposed  that  I 
should  give  up  Mr.  Russell,  and  they  should  give 
up  Mr.  Rogers,  and  we  should  each  make  a  new 
selection.  I  was  entirely  satisfied  both  with  my 
choice  and  theirs,  and  I  saw  no  reason  for  changing. 
So  that  I  not  only  accepted  the  nail  they  drove,  but 
I  clinched  it  myself.  I  not  only  kept  to  my  own 
choice,  but  I  had  to  make  them  keep  to  theirs.  It 
was  while  they  stood  thus  shivering  on  the  brink, 
after  Mr.  Rogers  had  been  proposed  and  accepted, 
and  before  he  had  declined,  that  they  proposed  Mr. 
Brook  and  Mr.  Greatheart. 

"  But  was  it  friendly  in  them  to  turn  away  from 
their  own  choice,  and  go  about  among  my  friends 
choosing  persons  of  whose  qualifications  they  were 
ignorant,  forcing  me  to  reject  them,  and  thus  to  dis- 


244  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

criminate  against  my  own  friends  ?  Did  not  Messrs. 
Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  know  that  this  was  a  matter  not 
to  be  settled  by  sentiment  ?  I  should  have  considered 
it  a  far  more  unequivocal  sign  of  friendliness  if  they 
had  permitted  me  to  appear  before  the  referees  with 
the  friend  whom  I  had  intelligently  chosen,  who  had 
stood  by  me  through  the  whole  trouble,  who  was 
familiar  with  all  the  details  of  my  case,  and  capable 
of  understanding  all  the  details  of  theirs,  and  by 
whose  aid,  therefore,  arbitration  might  be  satisfac 
tory  as  well  as  conclusive.  Instead  of  which  they 
compelled  me  to  stand  alone,  unaided,  without  prep 
aration,  without  the  possibility  of  being  prepared, 
in  a  position  for  which  their  long  acquaintance  with 
me  must  have  told  them  I  was  eminently  unfit,  and 
which  one  at  least  of  their  number  must  have  known 
would  be  to  me  peculiarly  embarrassing  and  dis 
tressing.  Their  idea  of  a  friendly  arbitration  seems 
to  be  that  of  imposing  upon  me  the  friends  I  do  not 
want,  and  taking  away  from  me  the  friend  I  do 
want. 

"  Mr.  Parry  thinks  indeed  that  Mr.  Dane  had 
poisoned  my  mind  regarding  them.  But  he  also 
thought  Mrs.  's  mind  was  jaundiced.  Per 
haps  that  question  belongs  to  the  doctors  rather 
than  the  referees.  Whether  it  be  poison  or  jaun 
dice  it  is  to  be  hoped  the  disease  may  not  spread. 

"  There  are  other  parts  of  Mr.  Parry's  statements 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  245 

which  I  should  like  to  lay  before  the  referees,  but  I 
remember  that  they  are  mortal,  and  though  the 
spirit  is  willing  the  flesh  is  weak,  and  I  forbear. 

"IN  CONCLUSION, 

I  claim  that  my  first  contract  for  '  City  Lights,' 
specially  stipulating  ten  per  cent.,  shall  be  carried 
out  in  good  faith ;  and  that  it  shall  not  be  con 
sidered  as  changed  or  modified  by  any  conversation 
remembered  by  Mr.  Hunt,  but  absolutely  denied 
by  myself.  And  I  claim  that  the  word  edition 
used  therein  shall  be  held  to  mean  just  what  Mr. 
Parry  admits  it  would  mean  in  common  accepta 
tion  with  the  book-trade,  namely,  one  thousand 
copies, 

"  2.  I  claim  that  my  second  contract,  covering 
6  Alba  Dies,'  « Rocks  of  Offense,'  and  '  Old  Mias 
mas,'  was  obtained  from  me  under  a  total  misap 
prehension  of  facts,  that  this  misapprehension  of 
mine  was  the  result  of  a,  misrepresentation  (I  do 
not  say  intentional)  made  to  me  by  Mr.  Hunt  in 
his  letter  of  September  23,  1764,  wherein  he  repre 
sents  the  arrangement  as  one  uniform  among  their 
authors  and  as  assuring  me  a  rate  of  compensation, 
which  he  leaves  me  to  infer,  I  might  not  otherwise 
obtain,  whereas  he  knew  that  the  arrangement  was 
not  uniform  and  that  my  percentage  would  amount 
to  more  as  prices  were  then  tending,  —  and  the  ar- 


246  A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

rangement  was  made  by  him  so  as  to  prevent  my 
ten  per  cent,  from  amounting  to  more  than  fifteen 
cents  per  copy.  This  I  did  not  understand,  and 
should  not  have  assented  to  if  I  had  understood  it. 
I  hold  that  neither  in  law,  equity,  morals,  nor  man 
ners  should  I  be  held  to  an  agreement  which  I  did 
not  comprehend,  which  the  opposite  party  so  pre 
sented  as  to  prevent  my  comprehending  it,  and 
which  deprived  me  of  my  proportionate  share  of  an 
increase  of  profit  admitted  to  have  been  made  on 
the  books  published  under  it.  The  contract,  there 
fore,  should  be  set  aside,  and  I  should  be  paid  ac 
cording  to  the  usage  of  publishers,  or  at  the  same 
rate  as  appears  in  the  contract  for  '  City  Lights,' 
namely,  ten  per  cent. 

"  3.  I  claim  that  on  my  books  published  since 
the  date  of  my  second  contract,  and  not  alluded 
to  or  included  in  either  contract,  namely,  '  Winter 
Work/  '  Holidays,'  '  Pencillings,'  '  Cotton  Picking,' 
and  '  Rights  of  Men,'  my  compensation  shall  be  fixed 
by  the  usage  existing  among  publishers  and  authors. 

"  4.  I  claim  and  must  certainly  be  entitled  to  re 
ceive  interest  at  the  rate  of  seven  per  cent,  on  all 
sums  found  to  be  due  me  at  the  date  of  the  several 
semi-annual  settlements,  counting  my  compensation 
uniformly  at  the  rate  of  ten  per  cent,  on  the  retail 
price  of  the  books  at  the  date  of  the  settlement. 
This  point  is  so  plain  that  it  can  need  no  argument. 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  247 

"  5.  I  claim  that  I  am  equitably  entitled  to  dam 
ages  to  compensate  me  for  the  loss  that  has  re 
sulted  to  me  pecuniarily  and  otherwise  from  this 
unhappy  occurrence.  My  pecuniary  damage  alone 
amounts  to  more  than  three  thousand  dollars. 
There  are  hurts  of  other  kinds  to  which  money 
bears  no  relation. 

"  My  actual  expenses  in  preparing  for  this  refer 
ence  have  been  very  considerable,  and  under  the 
award  of  costs  I  claim  that  I  should  have  an  ample 
allowance  made  me  to  cover  my  outlays  in  this 
regard." 

After  this  statement  had  been  read,  Messrs. 
Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  were  permitted  to  make  what 
ever  of  reply  they  chose.  They  denied  no  fact, 
and  challenged  no  inference  in  my  statement. 

The  referees,  after  two  days  of  deliberation,  re 
turned  the  following  decision :  — — 

"  The  undersigned,  mutually  agreed  upon  as 
referees  in  the  matter  in  controversy  between 
M.  N.  and  Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.,  on  their 
own  account,  and  as  successors  of  Brummell  & 
Hunt,  hereby  award  to  M.  N.  the  sum  of  twelve 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  to  be  paid  her  by  Hunt, 
Parry,  &  Co.,  within  three  days  from  the  date  of 
this  paper  in  full  compensation  for  her  claims  upon 


248  A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

the  matter  in  this  controversy  —  and  that  hereafter 
M.  N.  shall  receive  ten  per  cent,  copyright  on  the 
retail  price  of  all  her  books  printed  by  Hunt,  Parry, 
&  Co.,  except  the  three  books  embraced  in  the  con 
tract  between  the  parties  dated  September  24, 1764. 
The  referees  decline  any  compensation  for  services 
or  expenses  and  leave  each  party  to  pay  their  own 
costs. 
"Signed  and  delivered,  April  30,  1769. 

"J.  RUSSELL. 
"G.  W.  HAMPDEN." 


X. 


SOBER    SECOND    AND    THIRD    THOUGHTS. 


AVING  trespassed  so  far  on  the  patience 
of  the   reader,  I  may  as  well   presume 
a   little   further,    and   indulge   in   a  few 
reflections. 

First,  from  the  investigations  and  observations 
of  the  last  two  years,  I  infer  that  authors  are  very 
much  to  blame  in  their  business  dealings.  By  their 
inexactness,  their  indifference,  their  unreasonable 
and  indolent  trust,  and  their  excessive  monetary 
stupidity,  they  not  only  become  an  easy  prey  of, 
but  they  offer  a  direct  temptation  to  the  cupidity 
of  publishers.  Not  a  single  author  to  whom  I  ap 
pealed  showed  the  slightest  reluctance  to  answer 
my  questions,  nor,  I  may  almost  add,  the  slightest 
ability  to  answer  them  adequately.  For  instance, 
the  points  I  wished  to  ascertain  were  whether  a 
writer  was  paid  by  percentage  or  by  a  fixed  sum : 
what  was  the  percentage  and  what  the  fixed  sum  : 
and  whether  during  or  subsequent  to  the  year  1764 
any  change  was  made  in  the  mode  or  rate  of  pay 
ment. 


250  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

See  now  how  charmingly  the  authors  met  my 
points. 

Says  one,  "  Brummell  and  Hunt  never  published 

but with  me  and  I  received  on  this  the  usual 

beggarly  percentage  ;  "  leaving  me  entirely  in  the 
dark  as  to  what  was  the  beggarly  percentage. 

Says  another :  "  What  terms  do  I  make  with  B. 

&  H.  ?  Yes,  with  all  my  heart.  In  regard  to , 

they  print  and  sell  and  allow  me  a  certain  sum  on 
all  copies  sold  ;  "  but  with  the  greatest  inclination  in 
the  world  giving  me  no  hint  of  the  amount  of  that 
"  certain  sum." 

Says  another :  "  Brummell  &  Hunt  have,  I  be 
lieve,  allowed  me  ten  per  cent,  on  the  retail  price 
of  my  books.  That  was  the  first  arrangement  at 
least,  but  I  must  confess  I  never  look  at  their  state 
ments  of  account." 

Says  a  fourth  :  "  I  have  always  received  a  per 
centage I  remember  no  change  in  1764,  un 
less  that  B.  &  H.  about  that  time  (perhaps  earlier) 
without  my  asking  it,  raised  the  sum  they  paid  me 

for ,  etc The  interests  of  authors  and 

publishers  are  identical  —  a  fact  which  they  under 
stand  better  than  we  do." 

Yet  the  firm  testified  of  this  very  writer  that  they 
had  written  agreements  to  pay  him  percentage,  and 
that  when  prices  advanced  they  waived  the  per 
centage,  and  paid  him  a  certain  (lower)  sum  per 
volume. 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  251 

A  fifth  says :  "  I  have  not  the  least  objection  in 
the  world  in  replying  to  your  letter  in  the  most 

straightforward  way I  have  been  contented 

with  ten  per  cent,  on  the  retail  price  of  my  printed 
books." 

Yet  the  written  contracts  of  this  writer  showed 
every  variety  of  arrangement  from  twenty  per  cent, 
downward. 

A  sixth  says :  "  Messrs.  B.  &  H.  have  published 

four  books  for  me The  three  first  named  sell 

for  $1.25,  and  I  receive  twelve  cents  each  copy." 

But  Messrs.  B.  &  H.  affirmed  that  these  books 
sold  for  $1.50  each. 

A  seventh  says  :  "I  did  not  send  your  letter 

to ,  for  the  reason  that  she  does  not  know  as 

much  as  you  do  about  the  subject  of  its  inquiry. 
The  most  she  could  tell  you  would  be,  that  now 
and  then  there  comes  a  bit  of  paper  very  neatly 
and  tastefully  diversified  by  red  and  blue  lines,  and 
dreadfully  complicated  by  sundry  hieroglyphics, 
which  she  has  been  told  are  figures,  and  that  a 
check  embellished  with  one  of  the  rows  of  figures 

accompanies  it I  have  an  impression  that 

years  ago,  when was  taking  such  sesquiped 
alian  strides  to  public  favor,  Mr.  Brummell  told 
me  that  after  the  number  of  copies  sold  had  reached 
a  certain  point,  the  author  received  a  reduced  per 
centage,  and  I  think  I  remember  wondering  by 


252  A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

what  perversion  of  commercial  philosophy,  an  ar 
ticle  of  which  fifty  thousand  copies  could  he  sold, 
was  worth  less,  proportionally,  than  one  of  which 
only  five  thousand  could  be  bartered,  for  of  course 
the  ratio  of  cost  decreased  with  every  successive 
thousand  manufactured." 

Here,  it  will  be  perceived,  is  a  faint  glimmer  of 
sense,  which  will  be  completely  extinguished  by  the 
next  extract. 

" said  you  made  a  mistake  in  thinking  your 
self  differently  used  from  the  rest  of  the  writing 
craft,  and  explained  that  the  profits  of  the  author 
did  not  keep  up  the  same  proportion  in  repeated 
editions,  but  went  to  pay  the  increased  circulation. 
For  his  part  he  would  rather  be  more  poorly  paid 
for  the  sake  of  being  more  widely  read." 

Must  not  that  have  been  an  explanation  worth 
having  ?  It  is  not  difficult  to  conjecture  the  source 
whence  that  form  of  explanation  originated,  for 

another  letter  says,  "  Mr. went  to  see  Mr. 

Hunt Mr.  Hunt  expressed  great  regret  that 

it  had  all  happened ;  said  '  Rights  of  Men,'  had 
done  more  for  your  reputation  than  any  other  book ; 
that  you  made  more  than  the  publishers  did,  etc., 
and  that  they  thought  better  to  have  a  low  per  cent, 
and  large  sales,  than  the  contrary  ;  though  I  don't 
see  what  a  low  per  cent,  paid  to  the  author  has  to 
do  with  large  sales,  if  the  price  of  the  book  is  kept 
high  to  purchasers." 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  253 

The  fact,  is  that  as  a  bad  woman  is  said  to  be  a 
great  deal  worse  than  a  bad  man,  so  a  man  innocent 
of  business  capacity,  is  far  more  innocent  than  any 
woman  can  be.  A  woman  may  be  never  so  silly, 
but  there  is  generally  a  substratum  of  hard  sense 
somewhere.  A  man  may  be  never  so  wise,  and 
yet  completely  destitute  of  this  practical  ability. 
It  is  largely  in  behalf  of  these  helpless,  harmless, 
deluded,  and  betrayed  gentlemen,  that  I  have  felt 
called  to  take  up  arms.  What  sword  would  not 
leap  from  its  scabbard  to  maintain  the  cause  of  the 
weak  and  the  wronged  ? 

But  though  I  admit  and  lament  that  authors  are 
unpractical  and  unbusinesslike  to  the  last  degree, 
I  must  affirm  that  they  have  less  inducement  to  be 
business-like  and  less  opportunity  to  be  practical 
than  any  other  class  of  persons.  Suppose  a  writer 
sets  out  with  the  determination  to  be  prudent  and 
sagacious,  where  shall  he  begin  ?  If  a  farmer  has 
a  bushel  of  potatoes  to  sell,  he  knows,  or  can  learn 
in  a  moment,  precisely  their  market  value.  The 
Early  Rose  has  its  price,  and  the  Jackson  White  has 
its  price  ;  there  is  no  room  for  doubt,  or  misgiving, 
or  mistake.  But  the  author  has  not  and  cannot 
have  the  least  notion  of  the  market  value  of  his 
products.  He  does  not  even  know  their  intrinsic 
value.  He  does  not  know  whether  he  has  raised 
an  Early  Rose  or  a  dead-and-gone  Chenango.  He 


254  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

may  have  spent  his  strength  on  what  is  absolutely 
unsalable.  His  work  is  production,  but  for  its  worth 
lie  must  depend  solely  on  the  word  of  those  who 
buy  and  sell.  After  a  while  he  does  indeed  arrive 
at  something  like  a  scale  of  value,  but  he  never 
reaches  such  a  degree  of  certainty  as  to  feel  assured 
of  any  special  piece  of  work.  Every  one  must  be 
judged  by  itself.  Five  successful  books  are  no  ab 
solute  guaranty  that  the  sixth  will  not  be  worthless. 
It  seems  to  me,  also,  that  there  is  no  business  in 
which  so  few  checks  exist  as  in  that  of  publishing. 
An  author,  we  will  say,  agrees  to  receive  ten  per 
cent,  on  the  retail  price  of  all  copies  of  his  works 
that  are  sold,  but  he  has  literally  nothing  but  the 
publisher's  word  by  which  to  know  how  many  copies 
are  sold.  The  manufacturer  knows  how  many  he 
has  made,  but  it  would  be  offensive  to  ask  for  the 
manufacturer's  accounts,  and  moreover  he  would 
probably  not  render  them  if  asked.  He  would  con 
sider  it  as  betraying  the  secrets  of  the  trade,  or  the 
trust  of  his  employers,  or  otherwise  impertinent 
and  unwarranted.  Of  course  a  false  return  of  sales 
would  be  fraud,  and  somewhat  complicated  fraud ; 
but  human  ingenuity  combined  with  human  deprav 
ity  has  been  known  to  surmount  obstacles  to  crime 
as  formidable  as  these,  and  the  danger  of  detection 
is  infinitessimally  small.  If  there  be  any  such  thing 
in  arithmetic  as  the  Double  Rule  of  Three,  —  and 


A  BATTLE  OF  THE  BOOKS.  255 

I  seem  to  have  a  vague  impression  that  there  is,  —  it 
may  well  be  brought  to  the  solution  of  the  problem : 
if  a  publisher  may  for  years  safely  disregard,  not  to 
say  violate,  the  condition  of  a  contract  which  an 
author  has  before  his  eyes  in  plain  black  and  white, 
how  long  may  another  publisher  safely  falsify  ac 
counts  which  an  author  never  sees,  and  which  he 
could  not  understand  if  he  should  see  ?  I  have  no 
doubt  that  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  and  perhaps 
also  in  the  tenth,  the  returns  of  sales  are  as  accu 
rate  as  the  moral  law.  What  I  maintain  is,  that 
the  author,  be  he  wise  as  Solomon,  has  no  means 
of  knowing  whether  they  are  or  not,  while  the 
manufacturer  of  all  other  goods  knows  precisely 
how  much  raw  material  goes  into  the  mill  and  how 
much  of  the  manufactured  article  comes  out. 

If  the  author,  instead  of  receiving  a  percentage, 
takes  half  profits,  he  is  even  more  at  the  mercy  of 
the  publisher.  In  the  very  outset  the  wildest  theo 
ries  prevail  as  to  what  constitute  profits,  and  though 
the  author  may  make  heroic  struggles  to  be  exhaust 
ively  mathematical,  the  probabilities  are  that  the 
only  draught  made  upon  his  science  will  be  the 
very  simple  effort  of  dividing  by  two  whatever  sum 
the  publisher  has  chosen  to  figure  up.  The  plan 
adopted  by  actors  and  actresses,  to  take  half  the 
gross  receipts,  is  far  more  simple  and  sensible. 

It  is  true  that  an  author  may  take  advantage  of 


256  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

competition  and  seek  a  second  market  if  the  first 
prove  unsatisfactory,  but  it  is  also  certain  that  he 
cannot  do  this  to  any  effective  extent  without  seri 
ous  injury  to  himself.  All  the  skill,  the  vitality,  the 
invention,  the  thought,  which  he  brings  to  the  dis 
position  of  his  wares  is  so  much  taken  from  his 
producing  power.  He  ought  to  be  wholly  free 
to  do  his  best  work.  He  ought  to  be  able  to 
concentrate  himself  on  his  writing.  If  he  must 
turn  aside  to  study  the  state  of  the  market  and  su 
perintend  the  details  of  sale  and  circulation,  that 
necessity  will  surely  tell  in  the  deterioration  of  his 
works ;  and  even  at  that  cost  he  will  not  be  so  good 
a  business  manager  as  one  who  is  to  the  manner 
born.  It  is  a  very  pretty  thing  to  be  a  poet-pub 
lisher  —  in  the  newspapers,  but  if  the  poet's  imag 
ination  happens  to  get  loose  among  the  publisher's 
facts,  it  makes  sad  work,  and  it  is  not  rnerry  work 
when  the  publisher  crops  out  in  the  poet's  verses. 

What  then  remains  ?  It  has  been  proposed  that 
authors  combine  and  form  a  publishing-house  by 
themselves,  publishing  their  own  books  and  receiv 
ing  their  own  profits.  This  plan  looks  simple 
enough,  but  I  must  confess  it  seems  to  me  chimeri 
cal  in  the  last  degree.  Excepting  the  temptations 
of  their  trade,  doubtless  a  hundred  publishers 
are  as  honest  as  a  hundred  authors,  and  surely 
they  have  a  great  deal  more  business  sagacity. 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  257 

But  as  soon  as  authors  turn  publishers  they  fall 
into  all  the  publisher's  temptations  without  acquir 
ing  his  business  power;  so  that  when  you  have 
chemically  combined  author  and  publisher  you  have 
an  amalgam  wholly  and  disastrously  different  from 
either  of  the  original  simples,  namely,  a  publisher 
minus  his  common  sense. 

No,  the  publisher  is  not  an  artificial  member  of 
society.  Like  all  other  middle-men  he  meets  a  real 
want.  He  exists  because  in  the  long  run  it  is 
cheaper  and  better  for  writers  to  employ  him  than 
to  do  his  work  themselves.  Of  course,  the  wiser 
and  more  righteous  he  is,  the  better  he  answers  the 
end  of  his  creation  ;  but  with  all  his  imperfections 
on  his  head,  he  is  better  than  nobody.  A  man  may 
as  well  undertake  to  build  his  house  with  his  own 
hands  to  save  himself  from  the  short-comings  and 
extortions  of  carpenters,  as  to  manufacture  and 
distribute  his  own  books  to  save  himself  from  the 
extortions  of  publishers.  We  may  send  mission 
aries  among  them,  we  may  gather  them  in  to  our 
Sunday-schools,  but  we  need  not  think  to  extermi 
nate  them. 

Authors  may  form  publishing  houses,  and  those 
houses  may  be  successful,  but  if  so  it  will  be  sim 
ply  by  adopting  substantially  the  methods  of  suc 
cessful  publishing-houses  already  established.  It 
seems  to  me  easier  and  more  economical  to  let  such 

17 


258  A   BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS. 

institutions  spring  from  the  soil,  rather  than  attempt 
to  construct  them  out  of  material  which  has  already 
been  organized  into  another  form  of  life. 

Shall  we  then  take  the  publishers  cum  grano 
salis,  and  try  to  guard  our  interests  by  keeping  a 
strict  look-out  ?  We  must  turn  publishers  ourselves 
to  make  it  of  any  account.  A  detective,  to  be 
worth  anything,  ought  to  be  at  least  as  wily  as  the 
rogue  he  watches,  and  to  be  so  he  must  give  his 
mind  to  it,  and  if  he  give  his  mind  to  that,  where 
withal  shall  he  set  up  any  other  business  ?  An 
author  need  not  rush  in  among  publishers  as  Cin 
cinnati  swine  are  said  to  invade  the  streets  with 
whetted  knives,  crying  "  come  and  eat  me  "  ;  but 
if  he  on  the  contrary  objects,  steadfastly  and  stoutly, 
to  being  devoured,  he  does  not  know  where  his  vul 
nerable  point  is,  and  cannot  therefore  arm  himself 
against  attack.  He  is  not  and  cannot  become,  con 
sistently  with  the  proper  pursuit  of  his  own  profes 
sion,  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  details  of 
publishing  to  know  whether  a  measure  proposed  by 
a  publisher  be  or  be  not  fair.  For  instance,  the 
publisher  contracts  to  pay  ten  per  cent,  on  the  retail 
price  of  a  sixty-two  cent  book.  A  war  comes, 
bringing  high  prices,  and  the  book  goes  up  to  a 
dollar  and  a  quarter.  The  publisher  continues  to 
pay  the  author  ten  per  cent,  of  sixty-two  cents, 
making  no  reference  to  the  increased  price.  The 


A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS.  259 

author  presently  chances  to  discover  it,  and  remon 
strates.  The  publishers  say  curtly,  "You  will 
make  the  price  of  the  book  so  large  that  it  will  have 
no  sale,"  oblivious  of  the  fact  that  it  is  not  the 
author  but  themselves  who  have  raised  the  price  of 
the  book.  He  replies  that  the  price  is  not  his  affair ; 
he  must  insist  upon  the  contract.  The  publishers 
yield,  and  the  author  is  apparently  victorious.  But 
when  a  second  author  brings  up  this  case  as  a  rea 
son  why  he  should  receive  his  percentage,  the  pub 
lishers  reply,  "  True,  we  did  continue  percentage 
because  he  insisted,  but,  as  a  warning,  the  book  had 
a  very  poor  saje."  But  what  effect  on  the  sale  can 
the  author's  twelve  and  a  half,  instead  of  six  and  a 
half  cents  have  if  the  price  to  the  buyer  is  the  same  ? 
Until  some  better  answer  is  given  I  shall  believe 
that  the  sale  diminishes  because  the  publisher 
chooses  it ;  because  he  prefers  to  sacrifice  a  small 
sum  on  a  single  volume  as  a  warning  to  contuma 
cious  authors,  rather  than  encourage  rebellion  by 
continuing  to  receive  profits  of  which  he  must  di 
vert  a  larger  share  to  the  author.  If  he  can,  by  one 
or  two  examples,  show  restive  writers  that  the 
question  is  not  between  six  and  a  half  cents  and 
twelve  and  a  half  cents  on  a  thousand  books,  but 
between  six  and  a  half  on  a  thousand,  and  twelve 
and  a  half  on  a  hundred,  the  sum  he  sacrifices  in 
showing  it  is  not  a  bad  investment. 


260  A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

Since,  then,  the  publisher  has  matters  within  his 
own  grasp  so  entirely  that  what  he  is  forced  to  pay 
with  one  hand  he  can  easily  pluck  with  the  other, 
I  do  not  clearly  see  the  advantage  to  be  gained  by 
insisting  on  any  special  bargain  with  him.  Perhaps 
I  do  not  quite  know  what  I  am  talking  about.  I 
suspect,  on  the  whole,  I  do  not.  But  my  remarks 
are  all  the  more  valuable  for  that.  If,  after  two 
years  of  clapper-clawing  among  a  quartette  of  cats, 
a  mouse  is  still  unskilled  in  feline  ways,  in  what 
state  of  helplessness  must  be  those  nnadventurous 
little  things  who  have  never  left  their  holes  ? 

But  there  are  the  books  of  the  firm  which  the 
suspected  publisher  opens  to  you  with  a  frankness 
of  innocence  that  ought  to  disarm  and  convince 
the  most  hardened  unbeliever.  Any  demur  is  met 
by  an  invitation  to  come  and  look  at  "  the  books." 
The  trail  of  the  Serpent  is  over  all  the  rest  of  the 
world,  but  "  the  books  "  have  escaped  the  contami 
nation  of  original  sin  and  shine  with  the  purity  of 
Paradise.  Burglars  blow  open  safes,  banks  and  di 
rectors  and  cashiers  and  tellers  come  to  grief,  but 
"  the  books  "  always  tell  the  truth,  the  whole  truth, 
and  nothing  but  the  truth.  No  withstanding  which 
I,  from  the  beginning,  instinctively  gave  those 
"  books  "  a  wide  berth.  They  were  to  me  like 
the  "  magick  bookes  "  of  Spenser's  hermite.  "  Let 
none  them  read."  That  "  the  books "  are  not 


A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  261 

always  "  reliable  gentlemen  "  will  have  been  in 
ferred  from  the  account  which  they  professed  to 
have  sent  me,  and  which  was — lost  in  the  mail. 
That  "  the  books  "  are  not  always  intelligible  wit 
nesses  would  appear,  could  we  know  how  many  un 
wary  persons  have  gone  to  them  in  pursuit  of 
knowledge,  and  found  the  difficulty  insurmountable. 
"  We  had  the  books  here,"  said  one  benighted  au 
thor  of  no  mean  repute,  "  and  I  examined  them, 
and  Kate  examined  them,  and  Frank  examined 
them,  and  the  Major  examined  them,  and  we  could 
make  nothing  of  them."  That  the  books  have  been 
made  to  do  yeoman's  service  in  this  battle  has 
already  been  seen,  and  by  various  tokens  it  would 
seem  that  they  have  not  yet  been  dismissed  the 
service.  Only  to-day  a  letter  says,  "But  the  ac 
count  of  the  sales  of  your  book  and  the  sums  paid 
you  for  them,  as  I  derived  them  from  the  books  of 
Mr.  Hunt,  convinced  me  that  whatever  the  bargain 
might  be  you  had  a  better  one  than  I  had.  I  have 
half  profits  —  you  have  had  more." 

That  is  what  " the  books"  say  unquestionably; 
but  what  a  stiff-necked  and  perverse  author  refuses 
to  believe  without  further  proof.  When  a  publisher 
shows  me  receipted  bills  for  the  sums  he  has  actually 
paid  in  manufacturing  and  publishing  my  books, 
and  for  the  sums  he  has  received  from  their  sale,  I 
will  —  take  them  to  an  expert  for  examination  ;  but 


262  A   BATTLE   OF  THE   BOOKS. 

when  he  proposes  to  set  me  down  before  a  mighty 
maze  of  figures,  which  for  aught  that  appears,  may 
all  have  been  conjured  up  by  his  imagination,  and 
begs  me  to  deduce  from  them  any  conclusion  what 
ever,  I  decline  with  thanks.  That  contention  I 
leave  off  before  it  be  meddled  with.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  be  a  Solomon  in  order  to  know  enough 
to  keep  away  from  figures  which  it  is  necessary  to 
be  a  Solomon  to  understand,  and  which  when  un 
derstood  are  much  like  the  "  litle  flyes  cal'd  out 
of  deepe  darknes  dredd "  by  the  hermite  before 
referred  to,  and  which,  — 

"Fluttring  about  his  ever-damned  hedd, 
Awaite  whereto  their  service  he  applyes, 
To  aide  his  friendes,  or  fray  his  enemies." 

There  remains  also  to  the  wronged  or  sus 
picious  author  recourse  to  the  law  or  to  the 
more  informal  arbitration,  but  this  also  is  vanity. 
To  me  a  lawsuit  seemed  utterly  intolerable,  but 
my  experience  of  arbitration  was  so  repulsive,  and 
is  so  hideous  in  memory  —  and  this  solely  from 
the  nature  of  things,  since,  alike  from  the  refer 
ees  and  from  Messrs.  Parry  and  Markman  who, 
like  St.  Paul,  were  the  chief  speakers,  on  the 
other  side,  I  met  only  courtesy  —  that  a  law 
suit  seems  attractive  in  comparison ;  but  if  I  had 
instituted  a  lawsuit,  without  doubt  adverse  fate 
hereafter  would  have  been  implored  to  take  any 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  263 

shape  but  that !  If  two  parties  are  really  bent  on 
getting  at  the  vital  facts,  presenting  absolute  truth, 
securing  exact  and  essential  justice,  nothing  can  be 
more  to  the  purpose  apparently  than  a  reference 
to  disinterested,  non-professional,  intelligent,  and 
friendly  persons ;  but  two  parties  honestly  bent  on 
such  an  object  would  probably  have  nothing  to 
quarrel  over.  Even  if  they  have  it  is  not  certain 
that  the  informal  is  better  than  the  formal  mode  of 
settlement.  If  there  are  no  facts  to  be  hushed  up, 
a  legal  investigation  will  do  no  harm ;  if  there  are 
facts  to  be  hushed  up,  a  legal  investigation  is  neces 
sary.  We  look  at  the  law  as  at  best  a  clumsy  round 
about  way  of  arriving  at  just  conclusions  —  a 
method  full  of  ingenious  devices  to  entangle  and 
confuse  witnesses  and  make  the  worse  appear  the 
better  reason.  We  take  the  informal  arbitration  as 
a  short  cut  to  the  desired  goal.  On  the  whole  I 
am  inclined  to  think  that  the  law  is  the  shortest 
cut  in  the  known  world.  The  rules  which  obtain 
in  courts  of  justice  and  which  seem  to  the  unpro 
fessional  mind  a  mere  medley  of  arbitrary  vex 
ations  and  restrictions,  are  the  result  of  the  ex 
perience  of  ages,  and  with  all  their  short-comings 
and  their  long-comings  do  probably  present  the 
most  expeditious  and  unerring  mode  of  reaching 
truth  which  human  wit  and  wisdom  have  yet  de 
vised.  If  so  we  cannot  depart  from  them  without 


264  A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

loss.  In  ridding  ourselves  of  their  clumsiness  we 
rid  ourselves  also  of  their  effectiveness.  We  rend 
away  the  red  tape,  but  the  package  immediately 
falls  apart  into  a  worthless  heap  of  memoranda. 
You  avoid  a  lawsuit  because  of  the  publicity  and 
multiplicity  and  infelicity  of  lawyers,  witnesses, 
judge,  and  jury.  You  adopt  a  reference  because 
it  dispenses  with  all  these  and  goes  straight  at  the 
heart  of  things.  But  you  find  by  experience  that 
unless  your  opponent  wishes  it  you  may  not  get  at 
the  heart  of  things  at  all.  In  a  lawsuit  you  can  en 
force  measures ;  in  a  reference  you  are  dependent 
upon  courtesy.  Your  opponent  presents  only  that 
which  is  good  in  his  own  eyes.  He  produces  what 
he  chooses  ;  he  withholds  what  he  chooses.  To  be 
sure  you  do  the  same  ;  but  you,  angel  that  you  are, 
have  nothing  to  hide,  while  he,  the  fiend  I  has  all 
manner  of  wiles  and  wickedness  to  conceal.  If  now 
you  were  in  court,  politeness  and  impertinence  would 
be  equally  and  wholly  out  of  the  question.  It  is  the 
duty  and  delight  of  lawyers  to  find  out  everything 
—  and  such  is  the  depravity  of  the  legal  heart,  it 
is  especially  their  duty  and  delight  to  ferret  out 
what  the  opposite  party  desires  to  conceal.  It  is 
not  what  a  man  wishes  and  means  to  say,  but  every 
thing  which  he  can  be  made  to  say,  that  a  lawyer 
wants.  His  hand  can  put  aside  the  proffered 
"  books,"  and  grab  the  books  which  are  withheld. 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  265 

He  does  not  permit  the  opposite  parties  to  select  and 
exclude  witnesses,  but  goes  out  into  the  highways 
and  hedges  and  compels  to  come  in  whom  he  wants. 
The  law  winds  a  long  way  round,  but  it  sets  you 
down  as  near  your  journey's  end  as  the  nature  of 
things  permits.  A  private  reference  takes  a  short 
cut,  but  it  has  no  inherent  power  to  carry  you  far 
from  your  starting-point.  Arbitration  has  the  ad 
vantage  in  respect  of  privacy,  and  that  is  an  advan 
tage  not  to  be  overestimated.  Still,  if  there  is  any 
thing  to  choose  when  both  are  intolerable,  it  seems 
rather  worse  to  speak  yourself  before  five  men, 
than  to  have  some  one  else  to  speak  for  you 
before  five  hundred.  It  matters  not  how  wise, 
how  impartial,  referees  may  be,  their  jurisdiction 
is  necessarily  limited,  and  they  cannot  go  beyond 
it  to  compel,  or  extort,  or  present.  They  must 
judge  on  what  is  spontaneously  set  before  them. 
If  to  avoid  trouble  and  unpleasantness  be  your 
object,  it  is  better  to  submit  to  everything  and 
keep  out  of  strife  altogether.  If  you  set  out  to 
accomplish  an  end,  it  is  better  to  shut  eyes  and 
ears  to  disagreements,  and  take  the  road  which 
common  experience  designates  as  the  surest  and 
safest  in  the  long  run. 

But  I  most  heartily  advise  writers  in  general  to 
do  neither.  So  far  as  the  improvement  of  one's 
fortune  goes,  nothing  is  more  futile.  One  should 


266  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

be  exact,  prompt,  methodical,  and  intelligent  so 
far  as  possible.  He  will  thus  exert  a  salutary 
influence  over  his  publisher,  and  will  be  far  more 
likely  to  receive  his  dues  than  if  he  believes  "  in 
unin quiring  trust "  and  lives  wholly  by  faith.  But 
it  is  better  for  his  purse  to  take  what  a  pub 
lisher  chooses  to  give  than  to  make  an  ado  about 
it  afterwards.  Even  if  successful  in  regard  to 
the  particular  sum  he  claims,  it  is  at  a  cost  of 
time  and  trouble  altogether  disproportionate  to 
it.  He  plays  an  unequal  game  at  best,  because 
the  publisher's  business  goes  on  serenely,  during 
all  the  difficulty,  while  the  author's  must  be  at 
a  stand-still.  The  very  instrument  that  he  uses 
in  defending  his  works  is  the  instrument  which 
he  ought  to  be  using  in  producing  them.  Even 
as  a  pecuniary  transaction  it  is  far  more  profit 
able  to  sow  seed  for  future  harvests  than  to  spend 
strength  in  trying  to  secure  the  gleanings  of 
last  year's  growths.  The  money  proceeds  of 
the  insurrection,  whose  history  has  been  given 
in  these  pages,  was  twelve  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars.  The  whole  amount  claimed  to  make  up 
ten  per  cent,  was  about  three  thousand  dollars, 
and  considering  that  my  whole  plan  of  proceed 
ings  was  demolished  in  the  beginning,  and  that 
the  case  had  to  present  itself,  as  one  may  say, 
smothered  in  a  mass  of  irrelevant  details,  and 


A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  267 

deprived  of  much  that  was  to  the  purpose,  I 
reckoned  myself  extremely  well  off.  But  even  had 
the  whole  sum  been  awarded,  it  would  have  been  no 
very  munificent  compensation  for  eighteen  months 
of  literary  labor,  apart  from  the  fact  that  the  labor 
was  of  a  kind  for  which  no  money  could  com 
pensate.  In  its  baldest  shape,  the  results  of  a  year 
and  a  half  of  work  were  twelve  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars,  or  little  more  than  one  third  of  what  was 
claimed  on  previous  work.  I  think  myself  there 
fore  justified  in  asserting  that  though  quarreling 
with  your  publishers  may  be  very  good  as  a  cru 
sade,  it  is  a  very  poor  way  of  getting  a  living. 

Let  me  here  correct  an  impression  that  seems  to 
prevail  somewhat  extensively  as  to  the  rewards  of 
literary  life.  It  certainly  has  its  rewards,  and  of 
the  most  delightful  kind.  What  joys  it  may  bring 
in  the  higher  walks  I  do  not  know,  but  even  on  the 
lower  levels,  I  should  like  to  live  forever  —  a  thou 
sand  years  to  begin  with,  at  any  rate.  I  could 
speak  as  enthusiastically  as  a  certain  popular 
writer,  "  once  more  famous  than  now,"  "  Of  all 
the  blessings  which  my  books  have  brought  me,  — 
blessings  of  inward  wealth  that  cannot  be  so  much 
as  named,  —  blessings  so  rich,  so  divine,  that  I 
sometimes  think  nothing  ever  was  so  beautiful  as  to 
have  written  a  book." 

But  so  far  as  literature  pays  cash  down  it  is  not 


268  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

to  be  compared  to  —  shoemaking,  for  instance. 
The  daily  papers  have  been  circulating  a  paragraph 
to  the  effect  that  a  recent  popular  book  had  gone 
to  a  second  edition  and  that  its  author  had  already 
received  from  it  twelve  thousand  dollars.  I  am  not 
prepared  to  deny  the  statement ;  but  I  know  an  au 
thor  of  nine  books,  not  it  is  to  be  hoped  on  the 
same  footing  of  intrinsic  merit,  but  books  which 
have  travelled  up  to  nine,  ten,  and  fourteen  edi 
tions,  whose  author  never  has  received  and  never 
expects  to  receive  twelve  thousand  dollars  on  the 
whole  lot. 

Let  nothing  in  this  remark  be  construed  into 
anything  like  complaint.  On  the  contrary,  authors 
ought  to  be  grateful  to  their  publishers  for  allowing 
them  so  large  a  gratuity.  As  Mr.  Parry  remarked 
concerning  the  appropriation  of  an  edition  of  fifteen 
hundred  books  to  the  use  of  the  firm,  they  might 
have  taken  more  if  they  had  chosen.  And  when 
we  reflect  that  not  only  do  they  bestow  upon  us 
these  large  sums  of  money,  but,  as  sundry  extracts 
in  other  parts  of  this  volume  show,  they  first  manu 
facture  for  us  the  fame  which  brings  the  money,  we 
are,  in  the  language  of  the  hymn,  lost  in  wonder, 
love,  and  praise.  It  must  be  heart-rending  to 
fashion  your  graven  image  and  then  have  that 
image  turn  upon  you  and  demand  a  share  of  the 
profits  I 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  269 

Unhappily  a  dense  ignorance  upon  this  subject 
broods  over  the  community,  and  there  should  be 
added  to  our  literature  an 


1.  Question.  Can  you  tell  me,  child,  who  made 
you? 

Answer.  The  great  House  of  Hunt,  Parry,  & 
Co.,  which  made  heaven  and  earth. 

In  controversies  with  publishers,  the  author  is  at 
a  signal  disadvantage  by  reason  of  the  connection 
of  publishers  with  the  press.  Publishers  have  the 
entree  of  the  newspapers  by  their  advertising,  and 
all  in  the  way  of  business,  it  is  the  easiest  thing  in 
the  world  to  give  public  opinion  a  tilt  in  the  desired 
direction  without  the  least  suspicion  on  the  part  of 
the  reader,  or  any  more  collusion  on  the  part  of  the 
editor  than  is  implied  in  a  good-natured  relinquish- 
ment  of  a  few  lines  of  editorial  space.  Here,  we 
will  say,  is  a  house  which  advertises  to  the  extent 
of  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands  of  dollars  in  a 
single  paper.  In  connection  with  an  extraordinary 
advertisement,  it  hands  to  the  editor  an  extraordi 
nary  paragraph,  celebrating  its  more  extraordinary 
virtues.  The  advertisement  goes  in  among  the 
advertisements,  and  the  eulogy  goes  in  among  the 
editorials  and  becomes  the  voice  of  the  paper. 


270  A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

Nobody  is  hurt,  and  the  firm  is  greatly  helped  in 
building  up  for  itself  name  and  fame.  When  the 
Athenian  newspapers  glow  with  reflections  upon 
the  inability  of  authors  to  understand  the  details 
of  publishing  and  the  unimpeached  and  unimpeach 
able  honor  of  the  house  of  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.,  not 
half  a  dozen  readers  suspect  that  those  reflections 
are  anything  but  the  spontaneous  tribute  of  a 
grateful  people  to  the  eminent  firm  in  question. 
Nobody  suspects  that  behind  all  the  glitter  and  glory 
some  pestiferous  little  author  is  poking  an  inquisi 
tive  finger  in  among  those  details,  is  indeed  ques 
tioning  that  unimpeached  and  unimpeachable  honor, 
and  that  this  beating  of  gongs  is  but  Chinese  strat 
egy  on  the  part  of  the  attacked,  to  scare  away  the 
impertinent  foe.  I  can  make  no  avowal  on  this 
head,  having  nothing  but  internal  evidence  to  go 
upon :  but  applying  the  rules  of  Scriptural  exe 
gesis,  it  seems  to  me  that  we  attribute  to  the  four 
Gospels  a  divine  origin  on  less  evidence  than  we 
may  attribute  to  these  eulogies  a  common  origin. 

For  instance,  during  that  portion  of  the  sidereal 
year  known  throughout  the  solar  system  as  Jubilee 
week,  the  press  of  Athens  burned  with  enthusiasm 
for  the  house  of  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co. 
i 

"  The  broadside  advertisement,"  says  one,  "  with 
which  the  renowned   publishing  house  of  Messrs. 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  271 

Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  salute  the  country  in  this  jubi 
lee  time  on  another  page  of  this  morning's  Post, 
will  excite  universal  attention  and  remark.  It  de 
tails  the  literary  achievements  of  this  enterprising 
firm  during  the  last  year  and  a  half  in  a  form  that 
is  both  novel  and  impressive.  Where  are  the  pub 
lishers  on  this  continent  who  within  that  term  have 
presented  to  the  reading  public  works  from  [how 
many  ?]  different  authors,  nearly  all  of  whom  are 
living  celebrities  ?  It  would  be  glory  enough  for 
any  firm  to  have  announced  original  works  from 
less  than  one  fourth  that  number  of  well-known 
authors.  Read  the  glittering  roll  of  names  as  they 
are  presented.  In  poetry,  L.,  T.,  L.,  B.,  and  W. 
Of  novelists,  D.,  T.,  S.,  H.,  H.,  R.,  and  G.  And 
of  essayists,  travellers,  writers  on  natural  history 
and  science,  such  a  shining  company  of  men  and 
women  of  genius  as  will  make  book-shelves  brilliant 
for  all  time  to  come.  But  these  publishers  have  not 
compromised  quality  with  quantity.  They  hold  up 
to  their  high  standard  in  every  essay  in  which  they 
engage.  Nor  are  they  in  any  sense  such  devotees 
of  Mammon  as  to  think  it  possible  to  build  a  lasting 
reputation  on  anything  less  substantial  than  true 
honor  in  dealing  as  well  as  indisputable  worth  in 
selection. 

"  Their  shelves  and  counters  are  an  embarrass 
ment   of  literary  riches.     Such   a   display   of  the 


272  A  BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

ripest  fruits  of  culture,  taste,  judgment,  enterprise, 
and  business  sagacity  cannot  be  surpassed.  Their 
wonderful  march  to  their  eminent  and  leading  posi 
tion  as  publishers  has  given  an  excellent  example  to 
the  country  in  refining  and  solidifying  the  common 
rules  of  business  in  their  own  field,  and  elevating 
and  dignifying  a  branch  of  trade  than  which  not 
one  is  clothed  with  nobler  and  purer  associations. 
From  this  house,  also,  go  forth  a  quarterly,  two 
monthlies,  and  a  weekly  magazine,  any  one  of 
which  would  add  lustre  to  the  repute  of  the  pub 
lishers.  None  but  sound  and  sweet  literature  comes 
from  hence.  It  is  the  aim  of  the  firm  to  keep  the 
fountain  clear  from  which  such  incessant  streams  of 
influence  are  to  flow.  American  authors  contribute 
in  large  store  to  the  rich  treasury  of  its  productions, 
while  foreign,  and  especially  British  writers  supply 
in  large  degree  the  stores  of  reading,  which  are  the 
recreation  and  delight  of  cultivated  people  every 
where." 

And  thus  another  paper  takes  up  the  parable  :  — 

"  Our  first  page  to-day  is  entirely  devoted  to  a 
remarkable  advertisement,  which  tells  the  story  of 
rare  business  enterprise,  and  is  filled  to  overflowing 
with  attractive  announcements.  But  it  is  for  char 
acteristics  other  than  these  that  it  will  command  at- 


A    BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS.  273 

tention  and  really  deserve  study.  Within  a  year 
and  a  half,  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  have  given  to  the 
public  works  from  the  pens  of  two  score  of  authors, 
American  and  English,  almost  all  of  them  living 
and  of  widest  popularity.  To  represent  in  print  a 
half-dozen  of  the  most  prominent  on  the  list  might 
be  the  making  of  any  firm ;  to  take  care  of  the  whole 
of  them  would  seem  to  be  an  embarrassment  of 
riches.  But  the  establishment  has  done  and  is  do 
ing  this,  with  unremitting  energy  and  in  good  style. 
We  need  not  take  room  to  run  over  the  long  and 
brilliant  catalogue  ;  a  glance  at  the  eight  columns 
will  reveal  a  galaxy  of  shining  names.  Observe 
the  poets,  —  T.,  B.,  L.,  and  L.,  W.,  and  the  rest  ; 
count  up  the  novelists  —  S.,  T.,  D.,  R.,  G.,  H.,  and 
others  of  the  tribe  ;  consider  the  array  of  essayists, 
travellers,  and  naturalists,  men  and  women  of  mark  ; 
and  then  ask  whether  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  are  sur 
passed  by  any  of  their  contemporaries  in  their 
numerous  issues,  taking  quantity,  quality,  and  vari 
ety  into  the  account.  In  offering  this  broadside 
programme  of  their  performances,  as  bookmakers 
and  booksellers,  to  the  crowds  of  Jubilee  week,  they 
put  forth  a  statement  of  indisputable  facts  ;  give  a 
transcript  of  the  record  of  the  volumes  they  have 
issued,  and  their  relations  to  eminent  writers. 

"  Their  achievement!  imply  something  more  than 
an  immediate  and  exclusive  eye  to  the  main  chance. 

18 


274  A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

It  is  evident  that  the  honorable  pursuit  of  profit  is 
not  with  them  the  sole  consideration.  [0  that  it 
were  !]  They  desire  to  connect  their  names  with 
good  literature,  advanced  thought,  and  the  intel 
lectual  progress  of  the  age.  They  would  be  known 
for  their  taste  and  liberal  policy  as  well  as  for  their 
mercantile  success  ;  acting  upon  the  principle  that 
character  as  well  as  money  is  worth  earning  in  the 
pursuits  of  trade  and  commerce.  Without  enter 
ing  into  comparisons,  thus  much  is  fairly  to  be  in 
ferred  from  their  extended  advertisement.  It  tells 
of  results  which  imply  the  existence  of  the  qualities 
we  have  attributed  to  them  ;  for  without  such  qual 
ities  such  results  could  not  have  been  attained. 
The  evidence  of  culture,  judgment,  sagacity,  energy, 
boldness,  tact,  skill,  and  whatever  else  goes  to  the 
building  up  of  a  publishing  house  known  at  home 
and  abroad  for  its  magnitude  and  the  extent  and 
variety  of  its  ventures,  is  literally  such  that  he  who 
runs  may  read  and  see  that  it  is  beyond  controversy. 
This  is  not  extravagant  praise  or  mere  compliment; 
but  simply  the  statement  of  the  truth  as  made  man 
ifest  by  the  facts. 

"In  this  general  reference  to  Messrs.  Hunt,  Parry, 
&  Co.,  we  must  not,  in  passing,  omit  an  allusion  to 
their  periodicals.  To  them  the  public  are  indebted 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  ofdest  Greek  Quarterly, 
the  agreeable  and  fresh  weekly  selections  of  '  Every 


A  BATTLE   OF  THE   BOOKS.  275 

Tuesday,'  the  wide  circulation  and  high  character 
for  ability,  diversity,  and  independence  of  the 
4  Adriatic  Monthly,'  and  that  leading  magazine  of 
its  class,  '  The  Buddhist.' 

"  In  thus  calling  attention  to  a  publishing  house 
whose  imprint  is  known  wherever  the  Greek  lan 
guage  is  spoken  or  read,  we  are  pointing  to  what  is 
one  of  the  leading  concerns  in  a  most  important 
branch  of  the  business  of  the  city,  of  which  others 
besides  its  proprietors  may  well  be  proud.  Not 
only  has  it  grown  with  the  growing  culture  of  the 
country,  but  it  has  encouraged  home  authors,  and 
spread  far  and  wide  the  best  productions  of  the  best 
writers  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic ;  thus  giv 
ing  it  a  claim  to  honorable  consideration  as  holding 
a  high  place  among  the  beneficent  agencies  of  the 
advancing  civilization  of  the  world.". 

And  a  third  chimes  in  :  — 

"  The  firm  of  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.,  now  almost 
as  familiar  to  the  public  under  the  new  name  as 
under  the  old  colors  with  which  it  sailed  so  long, 
has  been  a  bulwark  and  a  rallying  point  for  our 
literature,  on  which  book  buyers  as  well  as  book 
writers  depended  for  many  years.  It  has  always 
been  active,  but  never  so  active  as  now.  In  an 
other  part  of  this  paper,  this  house  advertise  their 


276  A  BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

principal  publications  for  the  past  eighteen  months. 
With  little  more  amplification  than  a  catalogue,  the 
list  fills  a  very  considerable  space ;  but  it  is  when 
we  come  to  appreciate  quality  as  well  as  quantity 
that  its  full  importance  is  realized.  No  other 
Athenian  house  could  bulletin  such  a  list  of 
authors,  beginning  with  L.,  and  ranging  along  the 
varied  types  of  our  literature,  from  W.,  S.,  H., 
H.,  and  L.,  to  P.,  H.,  and  A.  Nor  can  any  house 
exhibit  such  a  list  of  English  writers,  with  the  added 
merit  of  the  authors'  sanction,  as  T.,  B.,  H.,  E.,  D., 
and  R. 

"  Periodicals  have  come  to  be  recognized  as  neces 
sary  tenders  to  the  business  of  every  book  firm ; 
but  the  monthlies  and  the  quarterly,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

"  Whatever  may  be  the  differing  opinions  after 
the  experiences  of  this  week,  upon  the  commercial 
position  and  prospects  of  Athens  and  the  success  of 
her  musical  experiments,  there  can  be  no  dispute  as 
to  our  preeminence  among  Greek  cities  as  a  literary 
Centre.  Even  Corinthians,  bitterly  as  they  may 
sneer  at  our  Jubilee,  are  forced  to  read  the  works 
of  Athenian  authors  and  to  supply  their  libraries 
with  Athenian  books.  It  would  be  impossible  to 
estimate  approximately  the  influence  in  producing 
the  literary  character  of  the  city,  its  clustering  of 
authors,  its  tone  of  society,  of  one  great  publishing 
house  ;  but  unquestionably  that  influence  is  very 
great." 


A  BATTLE    OF   THE   BOOKS.  277 

An  ill-timed  modesty  on  the  part  of  the  firm  of 
Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  has  apparently  prevented  the 
publication  of  the  fact,  but  it  is  well  known  in 
Athenian  social  circles  that  the  eclipse  which  made 
the  last  summer  famous,  and  which  elicited  so  much 
interest  throughout  the  scientific  world,  was  not 
owing  to  the  interposition  of  the  moon  between  our 
planet  and  the  sun,  but  was  chiefly  due  to  the  tem 
porary  disappearance  from  this  continent  of  the 
senior  partner  of  the  house  of  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co. 

I  do  not  say  that  the  extracts  which  I  have 
quoted,  and  others  which  I  might  quote,  emanated 
from  the  same  pen,  or  that  that  pen  was  held  in 
the  interest  of  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.,  but  I  do  say 
that  on  any  other  theory  the  correspondence  of 
thought,  of  illustration,  and  even  of  language  is  not 
a  little  remarkable. 

And  if  this  theory  be  correct,  if  the  house  which 
has  perhaps  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  liberal, 
the  most  generous,  and  the  most  refined  publishing 
house  in  this  country,  has  attained  that  reputation 
by  assiduously  blowing  its  own  trumpet  while  assid 
uously  strangling  its  own  authors,  of  what  value  is 
reputation  ? 

A  novel  and  striking  illustration  of  my  theme  has 
just  come  to  hand  in  the  publication  of  Miss  Mit- 
bridge's  "Letters."  In  1754  she  writes  of  Mr. 
Hunt :  "  He  is  a  partner  in  the  greatest  publishing 


278  A   BATTLE   OF  THE  BOOKS. 

house  of  Greece,  and  the  especial  patron  of , 

•whom  he  found  starving,  and  lias  made  affluent  by 
his  encouragement  and  liberality,  for  the  great  ro 
mancer  is  so  nervous  that  he  wants  as  much  kindness 
of  management,  as  much  mental  nursing  as  a  sick 
child.  I  have  never  known  a  more  charming  per 
son  than  Mr.  Hunt." 

The  author  to  whom  Miss  Mitbridge  refers  is  the 
author  of  whose  real  or  supposed  wrongs  I  have 
before  spoken.  If  these  publishers  were  indeed  so 
liberal  towards  him,  the  unanimity  with  which  that 
author's  family  and  friends  agree  in  attributing  to 
them  the  contrary  policy  is  a  singular  proof  of  in 
gratitude  to  benefactors  ;  and  Mr.  Hunt  may  well 
exclaim  with  the  Prophet  of  old,  "  I  have  nour 
ished  and  brought  up  children,  and  they  have  re 
belled  against  me." 

I  do  not  know  what  force  these  adulatory  re 
marks  may  have  upon  the  minds  of  others,  but  my 
experience  and  my  information  are  such  that  when 
ever  I  see  in  the  newspapers  a  fresh  ascription  of 
praise  to  the  liberality  of  this  house,  I  immediately 
infer  that  the  screw  has  been  given  another  turn 
on  some  unlucky  author.  The  firm  appears  to  me 
in  the  sirniltude  of  evil-minded  hens  cackling  their 
noisy  cut-cut-cut-ca-dah-cut  over  each  new-laid  egg, 
designing  to  conceal  from  an  uninquiring  public 
that,  like  those  laymen  denounced  by  Isaiah,  they 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  279 

44  hatch  cockatrices'  eggs ;  he  that  eateth  of  their 
eggs  dieth,  and  that  which  is  crushed  breaketh  out 
into  a  viper." 

At  a  later  period  these  general  paragraphs  began 
to  converge  around  a  particular  point,  and  snugly 
nestled  in  among  the  literary  items  of  religious 
newspapers  may  be  found  such  announcements  as 
this  :  — 

"  The  public  is  threatened  with  a  new  book  by 
the  once  redoubtable  M.  N.,  in  which  she  is  to 
narrate  her  tribulations,  real  or  imaginary,  with  the 
eminent  publishers,  Hunt,  Parry,  &  Co.  Authors 
are  very  apt  to  have  extravagant  ideas  of  the  popu 
larity  and  profits  of  their  books,  unmindful  of  the 
fact  that,  generally,  they  are  indebted  to  their  pub 
lishers  for  a  large  proportion  of  their  fame,  and  it 
will  take  several  books  to  convince  the  public  that 
H.,  P.,  &  Co.  deal  unfairly  with  their  authors.  Thus 
far,  H.,  P.,  &  Co.  have  kept  quiet  during  M.  N.'s 
attacks,  but  we  hope  the  time  will  come  when  they 
will  vindicate  themselves." 

And  almost  simultaneously,  in  another  quarter  of 
the  heavens,  appears  a  similar  turtle-dove,  its  pin- 
feathers  developed  into  well-defined  plumage,  but 
unquestionably  a  bird  of  the  same  brood  :  — 


280  A   BATTLE    OF   THE  BOOKS. 

"  M.  N.,  once  more  famous  than  now,  had  a  little 
4  unpleasantness '  with  her  publishers,  Hunt,  Parry, 
&  Co.  In  plain  words,  she  accused  them  of  cheat 
ing  her  out  of  some  thousands  of  dollars  by  making 
false  returns  of  sales  of  her  books.  Like  many 
authors,  she  had  become  inordinately  vain,  and  had 
extravagant  ideas  of  the  popularity  of  her  books, 
and  was,  as  is  too  often  the  case,  unmindful  of  the 
fact  that  a  large  portion  of  what  fame  she  then  had 
(but  has  now  lost)  was  made  for  her  by  these  self 
same  publishers.  She  had  a  quarrel  with  them  of 
eighteen  months  standing,  but  they  would  not  even 
appear  in  self-defense  ;  what  man  would  want  to 
have  an  open  quarrel  with  a  woman  ?  To  any  one 
acquainted  with  the  details  of  book  publishing,  the 
charge  she  brings  against  H.,  P.,  &  Co.  is  simply 
absurd  ;  and  besides,  no  business  man  would  ever 
dare  to  suspect  this  publishing  house  to  attempt 
such  a  system  of  petty  cheating,  and  which,  if 
attempted,  would  involve  an  amount  of  detail  incon 
sistent  with  the  end  to  be  reached.  H.,  P.,  &  Co. 
are  above  the  taint  of  suspicion.  The  truth  is, 
M.  N.'s  books  did  not  sell  so  well  as  she  expected, 
and  her  pride  (and  her  pocket)  had  a  fall.  It  is 
known  to  us  that  an  enormous  outlay  in  advertising 
failed  to  make  a  remunerative  sale  on  her  last  book. 
It  fell  dead  on  the  market.  It  is  now  very  quietly 
rumored  that  she  has  written  a  little  volume  which 


A  BATTLE    OF  THE  BOOKS.  281 

she  proposes  to  call  '  Little  Men,'  in  which  she 
describes  her  tribulations  with  the  house  of  H.,  P., 
&  Co.  .  .  .  M.  N.,  you  had  better  not !  the  public 
will  not  believe  you." 

The  public  will  at  least  believe  that,  though  a 
once  redoubtable  author,  like  Giant  Pope  in  the 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  by  reason  of  age,  and  also  of 
the  many  shrewd  brushes  that  he  met  with  in  his 
younger  days,  be  grown  crazy  and  stiff  in  his  joints, 
he  can  at  least  sit  in  his  cave's  mouth,  grinning  at 
publishers  as  they  go  by,  and  biting  his  nails,  be 
cause  he  cannot  come  at  them  ! 

It  is  not  probable  that  these  later  paragraphs 
were  actually  written  by  the  rose,  but  by  some  one 
who  lives  near  the  rose,  and  who  takes  roseate 
views  of  the  situation. 

When  one  has  been  introduced  behind  the  scenes, 
these  little  touches  go  for  what  they  are  worth,  but 
outside,  they  unquestionably,  if  imperceptibly,  af 
fect  public  opinion,  and  like  an  army  of  moral  pol 
yps  build  high  the  walls  of  lofty  Rome.  (A  new 
species  of  polyps,  the  naturalist  will  say,  but  it  an 
swers  my  purpose.) 

But  while  recognizing,  to  its  fullest  extent,  the 
great  power  and  prestige  of  a  flourishing  publishing 
house,  and  the  great  risk  a  writer  runs  in  opposing 
it,  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  accept  its  invincibility, 


282  A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

or  its  infallibility,  or  its  indispensability.  Of  course 
a  good  reputation  is,  or  ought  to  be,  the  sign  of  a 
good  character;  but  a  thing  which  is  wrong  is 
wrong,  whatever  be  the  reputation  of  him  who  does 
it.  A  charge  of  wrong  is  to  be  met  by  denial.  It 
is  not  to  dazzled  out  of  sight  in  a  general  brilliancy. 
When  the  course  of  our  true  love  ceased  to  run 
smooth,  I  supposed  my  pebble  was  the  only  obstacle 
which  my  publishers'  rivulet  had  ever  known,  and 
I  was  dismayed  accordingly.  But  if  all  the  rocks 
I  have  since  discovered  could  be  cast  into  one  heap, 
we  should  have  a  bigger  monument  than  Joshua 
made  to  mark  the  passage  of  Jordan.  But  the 
monumenteers  suffer  in  silence  or  speak  with  a 
bated  breath  that  cannot  be  heard  outside  their  own 
circle,  while  the  flourishing  firm  keeps  up  such  a 
continuous  tooting  with  its  rams'  horns  as  would 
have  flung  flat  the  walls  of  Jericho  had  they  been 
twice  as  stout  as  they  were.  Undoubtedly  it  is  not 
wise  always  to  make  an  outcry  over  your  follies  or 
misfortunes.  Neither  is  it  wise  always  to  go  through 
the  world  with  a  chip  on  your  shoulder,  challeng 
ing  people  to  fillip  it  off.  Yet  we  all  admit  that 
there  are  times  when  short,  sharp,  and  decisive  re 
sistance  to  aggression  is  the  wisest  plan.  So  also  is 
there  a  time  to  speak  as  well  as  a  time  to  refrain 
from  speaking.  There  may  be  dignity,  there  may 
be  generosity,  there  may  be  prudence,  or  pusillanim- 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  283 

ity,  or  selfishness  in  silence.  There  may  be  all  in 
speech.  Of  this  I  am  certain,  if  any  of  those  writ 
ers  who  have  escaped  harm  by  their  own  skill,  or 
any  of  those  who  have  thought  to  escape  further 
harm  by  silence  had  but  given  warning  of  the  ex 
istence  of  rocks,  some  of  us,  with  less  skill,  would 
have  avoided  that  vicinage  arid  might  have  had 
smooth  sailing  through  the  whole  voyage.  By  their 
silence  they  have  not  only  indirectly  contributed  to 
our  disaster,  but  they  have  actually  strengthened 
against  us  the  hands  of  our  natural  foes,  the  pub 
lishers.  They  make  it  possible  for  a  newspaper  to 
say,  in  reference  to  the  present  difficulty,  "  As  the 
house  (of  H.,  P.,  &  Co.)  has  been  in  thriving  exist 
ence  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  has 
never  before  quarreled  with  an  author,  —  or  more 
correctly  speaking,  never  had  an  author  quarrel 
with  it,  —  there  will  be  a  general  disposition,"  and 
so  forth.  They  thus  directly  increase  the  resistance 
which  any  succeeding  author  must  overcome. 
"  Nothing,"  says  "The  Nation  "  newspaper  of  Jan 
uary  13,  1770,  in  harsher  language  than  I  care  to 
use,  but  we  must  take  language  as  we  find  it,  — 
"  Nothing  so  promotes  swindle  as  the  readiness  of 
the  victims  to  pocket  their  losses,  go  their  way  with 
a  sickly  smile,  and  let  the  rogues  begin  again." 
But  of  course  this  must  be  left  for  each  person  to 
decide  for  himself.  It  is  only  that  if  one  feels 


284  A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

moved  in  the  spirit  to  bear  witness  against  wrong 
in  any  of  the  relations  of  life,  there  is  nothing  in 
the  height,  or  depth,  or  breadth,  or  brilliancy  of  any 
reputation  to  overawe  him.  Nothing  is  real  but 
the  right.  There  is  no  life  but  in  truth.  When 
faith  is  lost,  when  honor  dies,  the  man  is  dead. 
Dead?  He  never  was  born.  There  never  was 
any  such  person.  He  was  a  mirage,  an  apparition. 
The  stars  dim  twinkle  through  his  form. 

O 

As  to  the  harm  that  may  accrue  to  an  author 
from  adopting  the  course  which  he  counts  wise,  it 
seems  to  me  entirely  insignificant.  Nobody  ex 
pects  to  go  through  the  world  intact,  but  we  all 
expect  to  do  that  which  presents  itself  to  be  done. 
If  a  writer  has  life  in  himself  he  will  not  easily  die. 
If  he  has  not  life  in  himself  the  sooner  he  dies  the 
better.  If  there  is  no  life  outside  one  charmed 
circle, 

"  Then  am  I  dead  to  all  the  globe, 
And  all  the  globe  is  dead  to  me." 

Nothing  is  indispensable  but  a  mind  at  peace  with 
itself.  It  is  pleasant  to  celebrate  the  glory  of  those 
vou  love,  but  better  trudge  comfortably  across  coun 
try  on  foot  and  alone,  with  all  your  worldly  goods 
knotted  up  in  a  yellow  bandana  than  ride  unwil 
lingly  behind  anybody's  triumphal  car. 

So  then,  while  it  is  undoubtedly  best  as  a  general 
thing  for  an  author  to  live  at  peace  with  publishers, 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  285 

and  sinners,  there  is  also  no  reason  why  he  should 
not  make  war  if  it  is  borne  in  upon  him  to  do  so. 

But  the  only  royal  road  to  justice  is  for  authors, 
in  the  beginning,  to  be  intelligent,  prompt,  exact 
and  exacting  on  all  business  matters  which  come 
within  their  scope.  This  seems  a  little  thing,  but  it 
would  work  a  revolution  in  the  literary  world.  Let 
writers  deal  with  publishers,  not  like  women  and 
idiots,  but  as  business  men  with  business  men.'  If 
an  author  chooses  to  relinquish  all  pecuniary  re 
wards  from  his  books  and  to  make  an  outright  gift 
of  the  profits  to  his  publishers,  he  may  leave  the 
whole  matter  in  their  hands  ;  but  if  he  condescends 
to  take  any  part  in  the  spoils,  he  thereby  becomes  a 
business  partner,  and  the  only  question  is  whether 
he  shall  be  a  good  business  man  or  a  poor  one.  By 
not  being  prompt  and  intelligent,  by  neglecting  to 
secure  or  to  examine  his  accounts,  or  to  correct 
them  when  they  are  wrong,  or  to  understand  them 
when  they  are  obscure,  he  does  not  approve  him 
self  an  unmercenary  person ;  he  simply  shows  him 
self  to  be  shambling  and  shiftless,  and  puts  a  direct 
temptation  in  his  publisher's  path.  Many  a  servant 
would  be  honest  if  her  careless  mistress  would  not 
leave  money  lying  about.  Had  I  but  used  the  or 
dinary  care  and  caution  which  a  lawyer,  or  a  mer 
chant,  or  a  marketman  brings  to  his  business,  this 
trouble  doubtless  would  never  have  happened,  and 


286  A  BATTLE    OF  THE   BOOKS. 

we  should  all  have  been  the  happier  for  it.  The 
simple  consciousness  on  the  part  of  a  publisher, 
that  an  author  is  observant  of  what  is  visible,  will 
have  a  tendency  to  make  him  exact  and  upright 
concerning  what  is  invisible.  An  author  should  so 
order  his  affairs  that  a  publisher  must  make  an 
effort  to  be  dishonest.  On  the  contrary,  he  so 
neglects  them  that  a  publisher  must  make  an  ef 
fort  to  be  honest.  Confidence  and  trust  are  ex 
cellent  things  and  never  more  excellent  than 
when  they  have  a  solid  basis  of  paper  and  ink.  Do 
the  best  he  can  there  will  still  be  points  enough  for 
the  author  to  exercise  his  trust  on,  but  to  do  busi 
ness  wholly  on  the  trust  system  is  utterly  childish. 
No  confidence  can  be  more  complete  than  was  mine, 
and  none  apparently  can  be  founded  on  a  more 
honorable  reputation.  The  confidential,  friendly 
way  of  conducting  affairs  is  pretty  and  sentimental, 
grateful  to  one's  indolence  and  vanity  and  over  fas 
tidiousness,  and  confirmatory  of  one's  conviction 
that  he  is  too  dainty  and  delicate  to  touch  a  bargain 
with  the  tips  of  his  fingers.  But  in  fact  we  all  do 
take  money  for  our  work  when  we  can  get  it ;  we 
want  just  as  much  money  and  money  just  as  much 
as  other  people  — rather  more  —  and,  in  sober  truth, 
the  friction,  the  sacrifice  of  delicacy  in  keeping  your 
money  affairs  straight  from  day  to  day,  is  not  for  a 
moment  to  be  compared  to  the  delicacy  which  may 


A   BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS.  287 

be  sacrificed  by  leaving  them  at  the  mercy  of 
others.  You  run  well  for  a  while,  but  a  day  of 
reckoning  is  almost  sure  to  come.  The  thriftless, 
hap-hazard  way  of  bargaining  or  not  bargaining, 
common  among  literary  people,  is  the  fruitful  par 
ent  of  uneasiness,  anxiety,  disappointment,  and 
bitterness,  before  which  delicacy  must  be  rudely 
and  ruthlessly  brushed. 

It  is  the  same  with  women  as  with  men,  for  in 
literature  as  in  the  gospel,  there  is  neither  male  nor 
female.  When  a  woman  does  any  work  for  which 
she  receives  money  she  becomes  so  far  a  man,  and 
passes  immediately  and  inevitably  under  the  yoke 
of  trade.  She  has  no  right  to  demand  a  favorable 
judgment  of  her  work  because  she  is  a  woman, 
nor  has  she  the  least  right  to  require  that  chivalry 
shall  come  in  to  help  fix  or  secure  her  compensa 
tion.  Trade  laws  know  no  more  of  gallantry  than 
trade  winds  —  and  it  is  well  they  do  not.  Individ 
uals  and  societies  wheedle  and  natter  and  threaten 
and  torture  according  to  the  fashion,  or  passion,  or 
panic  of  the  hour,  but  under  it  all,  the  great,  piti 
less,  unseen,  inexorable  law  of  the  world  holds 
from  age  to  age,  never  relaxing  its  grasp,  never 
revoking  its  decree,  deaf  to  the  wail  of  weakness, 
dumb  to  the  cry  of  despair,  forever  and  forever 
teaching  with  unrelenting  persistency,  by  unrelent 
ing  persistency,  the  good  and  wholesome  lesson  that 


288  A  BATTLE   OF   THE  BOOKS. 

will  be  taught  no  other  way.  Under  this  law  there 
is  no  sex,  no  chivalry,  no  deference,  no  mercy. 
There  is  nothing  but  supply  and  demand ;  nothing 
but  buy  and  sell.  To  him  who  understands  it,  and 
guides  himself  by  it,  it  is  a  chariot  of  state  bearing 
him  on  to  fame  and  fortune.  To  him  who  does  not 
comprehend  it  and  flings  himself  against  it,  it  is  a 
car  of  Juggernaut,  crushing  him  beneath  its  wheels, 
without  passion,  but  without  pity. 


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